Premier Yitzhak Rabin of Israel pledged in an address to a joint session of Congress today that “however difficult the road, however hard the challenge and however complex the process, Israel will strive with all its being to contribute to the peace of the world by pressing ahead with its efforts for peace with the Arab countries. This is the driving goal of all of our policies.”
The Israeli leader, the first Premier of Israel ever to address Congress, also said, “I today declare I am ready to meet with any Arab head of government at any time and at any place for the purpose of peace talks.”
In his half-hour speech to the American legislators, Rabin stressed repeatedly that the center of the Middle East conflict was not territory or the Palestinian issue but the refusal of the Arab leaders to reconcile themselves to the existence of the State of Israel.
He promised that “In a negotiation whose sincere shared goal is final reconciliation, we shall go more than halfway to assure its success.” He called for reconvening the Geneva peace conference on the basis of its original terms and within the framework of Resolutions 242 and 338.
He bitterly attacked the United Nations where, in its present form, he claimed, Israel could not obtain justice. He denounced the “organization that calls itself the PLO” the covenant of which. in every paragraph “spits out the venom calling for Israel’s destruction.”
PREPARED TO NEGOTIATE PALESTINIAN ISSUE
Rabin said Israel was prepared to negotiate the Palestinian issue “within the geographical and political context of peace with Jordan,” adding that “When I say Jordan I do not discount Palestinian representation in the peace delegation of that country” and “when I say geography. I do not discount a negotiation concerning the future final peace boundaries of the territories involved.” He added that Israel is ready to “give up much and compromise much on territory” in negotiations whose aims are final peace and reconciliation.
The Israeli leader recalled that when President Anwar Sadat of Egypt addressed Congress from the same rostrum last October he “wisely declared” that there is no substitute for person-to-person contacts. In that connection, Rabin said. “I wish that he would direct those words to me as well as to you, the Congress of the United States. I would then know that the work of true peace-making has finally begun.”
Rabin stressed that Israel understood and appreciated America’s interests in the Middle East. “We know of your concern and national interest in the stability of our area and I wish to say to you that we seek to be sensitive to them,” he said in an apparent reference to the U.S. need for Arab oil and defense of the region from Soviet penetration.
Referring to America’s developing relations with the Arab countries, Rabin said: “We express our confidence that such developing ties need not be and must not be at the cost of my own country’s vital interests of liberty and security and if, in the pursuit of our shared goals, differences do arise from time to time, then let us recall Jefferson’s wisdom that ‘every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”
Rabin said that the American war for independence in 1776 and Israel’s War for Independence in 1948 “were both battles of liberation” that became revolutions because of “the human vision that fired them.” He said the “vision and essence of Zionism” was “the principle that the Jewish people should preserve its integrity and restore its national existence in its own homeland, despite the holocaust of history.”
HEART AND CORE OF CONFLICT
Rabin declared, “If I were to state in a word what is the heart and core of the Arab-Israeli conflict I would say this: It is the refusal of the Arab countries to reconcile themselves to the right of existence of one, small, viable, sovereign, Jewish
He charged that, from their rejection of the UN Palestine partition plan to the present day, “the Arabs would not negotiate the end of the conflict” because “they refused to reconcile themselves to a Jewish independent State.”
He said that Israel, in contrast, during the last 28 years that were marked by four wars has “year after year…called for–pleaded for–negotiated peace with the Arab governments. Their answer,” Rabin said, “was a blank refusal and more war. The reason was not a conflict over territorial claims. The reason was and remains the fact that a free Jewish State sits on territory at all.”
PALESTINE ISSUE NOT KEY TO PEACE
Rabin continued: “It is in this context that the Palestine issue must be appraised. That issue is not the obstacle to peace that some would suggest. Certainly, it has to be solved in the context of a final peace. But to assert that this is the key to peace, the formula for peace or the break-through to peace is to misread the realities. It is to put the legendary cart before the horse.”
The Premier said “The Palestinian issue began with and is a product of the overall Arab posture on the legitimacy of a Jewish State of Israel. Only when that posture changes will the Palestinian issue be constructively and finally tackled….There is no problem between us that cannot be solved by negotiation. That includes the Palestinian issue within the geographical and political context of peace with Jordan….”
Rabin praised President Ford’s leadership for making “a crucial contribution to the peace of the world and to the cause of peace in the Middle East.” He also extended to Congress “the gratitude of the people of Israel” for its consistent support and sympathy for Israel.
In calling for resumption of the Geneva conference, Rabin said its basis must be founded “on two fundamental principles”–the Security Council’s Resolutions 242 and 338 and the principle that “the parties to the conflict must be the parties to the peace-making process and that negotiations for peace must be between the government of Israel and the neighboring Arab governments.”
Rabin, who received long, standing ovations before and after the delivery of his speech, received the most enthusiastic response from the crowded chamber when he said “never again a Middle, East without the State of Israel.” Applause also rang out when he said “I will be the first to call” for the removal of the American civilian technical presence in the Sinai “if a condition of hostility” arises.
FAVORABLE RESPONSE FROM LEGISLATORS
Rabin drew a highly favorable response from Congressmen to his speech and in his two-hour closed-door meeting that followed with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations Committee. Sen. John Sparkman (D.Ala.) chairman of the Senate committee, told reporters that he was pleased with Rabin’s willingness to negotiate. He said “If the two sides sat down together instead of intermediaries, they would get somewhere.”
Sen. Richard Stone (D.Fla.) said “the best thing” in Rabin’s presentation was that “he put in perspective the nature of the issue and that the number one issue was not the Palestinians but the sovereignty of the State of Israel.” Rep. Lester Wolff (D.NY), chairman of the House subcommittee on future foreign relations, said that after listening to Rabin, he was convinced that the PLO was not only an element in Israel’s destruction but the destruction of Jordan as well.
Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D.Minn.) told reporters that Rabin’s speech was “extraordinarily well received” and said his discussions with the two Congressional foreign relations committees, “brought into proper perspective” the question of boundaries and lands. He said Rabin made a very favorable impression and that his speech was “helpful to Congress and even more helpful to the American public.”
Asked about U.S. aid for Israel, Humphrey said “There is no doubt Congress will respond to Israel’s economic and military requirements,” adding, “It will be forthcoming.”
Emerging from his meeting with the two committees, Rabin was asked if he was concerned over the matter of U.S. aid. He replied, “I believe Israel can find understanding and support in Congress for our real needs.” He described those needs as his country’s defense capabilities and the advancement of the political process toward peace in “a meaningful way.”
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