Former Senator Eugene J. McCarthy told the American Jewish Congress tonight that the best chance for peace in the Middle East lay in “American support for Israel’s right to secure and agreed borders.” Speaking at an American Jewish Congress dinner here, Sen. McCarthy declared: “Our commitment to Israel has clear legal, moral and historical bases. Our involvement in Southeast Asia has none of these. There is no comparison between the situations.” The Minnesota Democrat, who returned last month from a visit to Israel, criticized Secretary of State William P. Rogers for suggesting the possibility of sending American troops to the Middle East. “I hope the administration is not so confused or so eager to show the people of the country that it has avoided the beginning of World War III in the Middle East that it commits troops which would increase the possibility of a Russian-American confrontation out of which such a war might come,” he said. He added that State Department policy on Israel reflected “confusion and lack of clear commitment,” noting: “The Secretary suggested that geography was not important in the Middle East. Geography is important to us in Vietnam and geography is of vital consideration in the land of Israel and in Israel’s self-defense.”
McCarthy said only “direct negotiations” between Israel and the Arab states could bring a Middle East solution. “No real peace can be imposed from the outside by Great Power agreements and UN patrols,” he declared. In addition, McCarthy said, Israel should not be forced to go back to the pre-June 1967 borders: The exact lines must be subject to negotiations, but Israel should not be expected to give up the Golan Heights; should not be expected to again accept a divided Jerusalem; and should not be expected to yield control of the Sinai. McCarthy assailed Sen. J. William Fulbright’s proposal of a bi-lateral treaty between the U.S. and Israel which would limit Israel within her pre-1967 borders. He declared: “There is, of course, not a hint in his proposal about the question of recognition of Israel’s sovereignty by her neighbors, nor about the related question of achieving borders for Israel that would be permanently viable for a sovereign state.” The dinner was in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin L. Halpern of West New York, N.J., leaders of the American Jewish Congress.
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