Kissinger Affirms U.S. Has Not Shifted Its Policy Toward the PLO

Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger confirmed today that he had “indicated” to the Israeli government that “it would be better served” if it participated in the Security Council’s Middle East debate on Jan 12 which Israel has announced it would boycott because the Palestine Liberation Organization was invited.

Kissinger said, at the same time, it was “of course, clear” that Israel’s representative “would not wish to be in the room while the PLO delegate is actually speaking.” He made his comments in the course of a 70-minute press conference at the State Department which was devoted almost exclusively to issues involved in the second SALT agreement with the Soviet Union and brought only one question about the Middle East.

The Secretary used that question to reaffirm in strong terms that, there has been absolutely no shift in U.S. policy toward the PLO despite its admitted pressure on Israel to reconsider its boycott of the upcoming Security Council debate. “We will not deal–not negotiate–with the PLO as long as the PLO does not accept UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338,” Kissinger said.

“That will be our attitude during the Security Council debate, I would like to stress again that the U.S. considers relevant for debate only Resolutions 242 and 338 and we will not accept any resolution that tries to introduce any element that goes beyond 242 and 338,” he declared.

The question on the Middle East at today’s news conference was in two parts. The first asked Kissinger to confirm reports that he had asked Israel to reconsider its Security Council boycott, which the Secretary did. The second part asked if there was any indication that the PLO is shifting away from its position of non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Kissinger did not respond to that part of the question.