Kissinger; U.S. ‘remains Fully Committed to Israel’s Survival’

Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, reiterating that the United States “remains fully committed to Israel’s survival,” declared here today that the United States would continue to search for peace in the Middle East and was prepared to go to Geneva for a renewal of negotiations there.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the step-by-step approach toward settlement had suffered a setback and that the Middle East problem had to be dealt with under more difficult circumstances. He said “a moment of potentially great danger is not the time to assess blame between the parties or to indulge in recrimination” over the collapse of his efforts to achieve a second-stage Sinai withdrawal by Israel.

Asked by reporters whether such problems as the deadlock between the Administration and Congress over additional aid to Cambodia and South Vietnam was a factor in the breakdown of the Sinai withdrawal negotiations, Kissinger said he could not assign “any particular factor” for the breakdown. He said the major reason for the breakdown was “intrinsic” to the negotiations but that the “surrounding circumstances” were not favorable to the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations.

Kissinger reiterated that the announced U.S. reassessment of the Middle East situation was “not directed against Israel” and was “not designed to induce Israel” to adopt any particular policy. He denied that the reassessment meant the U.S. was considering outs in aid to Israel. He said Israel’s request for U.S. aid for the next fiscal year, previously indicated to be $2.6 billion, was being studied currently “entirely at the technical level.”

OPTIONS FOR NEXT STEP

The Secretary stated that the United States would make its decision on aid to Israel on the basis of U.S. national interest and “our commitment to the survival of Israel.” He repeated that the reassessment had been made necessary by the “new circumstances” created by the collapse of the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations, and was not based on an “attitude of cutting aid.”

Asked what the U.S. planned as its next approach. Kissinger said the approach would be “whatever is most likely to reduce the danger of war.” He said the U.S. would be in touch with the Soviet Union, the co-sponsor of the Geneva conference, “in the near future” but added that the U.S. was prepared to go along with any other approach “the parties request of us.”

The Secretary said he believed the United Nations peace-keeping mandate in the Sinai which expires in April and the mandate on the Golan Heights which expires in May, should be extended to allow negotiations to proceed in a “tranquil atmosphere.” Kissinger has been reported to believe that a transfer of Mideast talks to Geneva would be likely to become a forum for polemics. But he said at his press conference that the U.S. would go to Geneva with a belief that the conference would not produce a stalemate, as he had previously predicted.

Asked whether the United States was considering punishing Israel, Kissinger replied that “the punishment of a friend cannot be a purpose of national policy.” He said the U.S. does not act in a “fit of pique.” Asked by a reporter who broke off the second-stage negotiations, Kissinger said that the talks between Israel and Egypt were suspended when Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy announced that step-by-step negotiations were ended and Egypt wanted a return to the Geneva conference.

The press conference was Kissinger’s first since he returned from the Middle East last Sunday after the talks were suspended.