Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s “main aim” in his current meetings in Moscow with Soviet authorities is to enlist Soviet support for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East, according to Prof. Hans J. Morgenthau. But. the political scientist warned, “It must not be an imposed peace.” He observed that one of the logical possibilities of settling the Middle East conflict “is imposing a settlement which none of the local powers can afford to resist no matter how much they dislike it.”
Prof. Morgenthau did not offer details of such an imposed settlement in his address before overseas writers here yesterday as board chairman of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Soviet officials have long urged the United States to join in imposing a settlement. American officials have resisted such an approach, pointing out that the parties must negotiate a settlement, since an imposed peace would be fragile and end in outbreaks. Morgenthau said. A major point in Israel’s reliance on the U.S. diplomatic initiative is the element of “no imposition “of a settlement, he noted.
Morgenthau, an arch critic of Kissinger’s diplomacy, said, “I am optimistic regarding Israel’s chances to survive Kissinger’s diplomacy.” He foresaw Israel surviving another war “even if it is bloodier than preceding wars,” and thought “both superpowers will do everything to localize it.” The U.S. Middle East policy, Morgenthau said, is “not to save Israel or please the Arabs but to diminish or eliminate the Soviet Union in the Middle East.”
Morgenthau foresaw renewed use by the Arabs of their oil weapon. “If anything is certain in foreign policy it is that it (the oil embargo) will be used again and much more drastically and much less temporarily.” Saying he had been asked to speak about Soviet-American detente. Morgenthau opened his remarks by declaring, “I would have to make a speech about nothing.”
The “real issue,” he contended, “is not the word detente.” but the policy being pursued by invoking detente. He likened it to other Soviet campaigns such as the Popular Front and peaceful co-existence and blamed the U.S. for “falling for this word.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
