Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger agreed today with a suggestion from Sen. Jacob. K. Javits (R.NY) to consult with the Foreign Relations Committee on ways to use American economic and technological power to bring the Soviet Union into greater cooperation for a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Kissinger, testifying before the committee’s 10th “educational hearing” on foreign policy choices for the next 15 years, made, his offer after Javits noted the conflict cannot be settled except through the cooperation of the United States and the Soviet Union. Javits asked why the U.S. cannot tell Moscow that its actions are “deleterious to hope for peace in the Middle East.”
Replying that the “extensive cooperation in the Middle East” between the superpowers “has not yet been completely tested,” Kissinger wondered “what does Congress have in mind?” The Secretary said that cooperation between Congress and the Administration “would strengthen” the U.S. and promised to assign “somebody to work” with the committee. Welcoming the offer, Javits said, “I feel Soviet policy is directed not towards peace in the Middle East, but in seeing it unmade.”
WAYS TO AFFECT SOVIET POLICY
Kissinger, in a response to a question from Sen. Clifford P. Case (R.NJ), said “there is no way we can use economic power” to pressure the USSR unless it is “to interrupt the free market in some ways.” But Case said there are “many ways” by which the U.S. can use its agricultural products and technology to affect Soviet policy “without confrontation.” He urged the Administration to form a coordinated mechanism with other producer countries.
Earlier, Case said that despite the proliferation of weapons in the Middle East, the U.S. had an “obligation” to Israel to enable the Jewish State to maintain “her position where she can defend herself, and her ability to defend herself is the only guarantee of her survival.”
ISRAEL’S SECURITY AN AMERICAN OBLIGATION
Case observed that the U.S. is delivering arms to countries “not committed to the security of Israel.” He asked Kissinger whether he would “consider other ways of helping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and his “impoverished nation” besides supplying weapons to Egypt.
“I agree with you completely,” Kissinger said acknowledging that “the security and survival of Israel” is “an American obligation.” But, he said, the question is “how to achieve a permanent and just peace.” He noted that in this connection Sadat has “gravely weakened, if not ended the Soviet connection without asking anything from us for it.” Kissinger said that Sadat was the first Arab leader after the Yom Kippur War to be “prepared to negotiate with Israel.” He said the decision to supply Egypt with six C-130 troop transport planes “cannot possibly affect the strategic balance with Israel” and hoped Congress would go along with the sale.
Meanwhile, it was learned here that a delegation representing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will meet with President Ford tomorrow afternoon.
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