Reagan Raps Carter Administration Policy on the Middle East

Former California Governor Ronald Reagan sharply criticized Administration policy on the Middle East at a Chicago dinner on behalf of State of Israel Bonds last night. The dinner honored Futures Exchange industry leader Lee B. Stem at the Hyatt Regency and resulted in $2,000,000 in Bond sales from the 950 members of the industry present.

Reagan took the Carter Administration to account for terming Israel’s settlements on the West Bank illegal, for inviting the Soviet Union into the Middle East discussions, and for placing the burden on Israel for setting up a Palestinian homeland. On the last score, he stated; “Since Jordan contains 80 percent of the territory that constituted Palestine after World War I, while Israel encompasses only 20%, the Carter Administration is wrong in attempting to make Israel solely responsible for setting up a Palestinian homeland.”

He called the invitation to bring the USSR into the Mideast talks “an error of enormous proportions” because, he said, “Russia has no interest in the area except furthering its own imperialistic ambitions.” As for Israel’s establishment of settlements in the West Bank, he said: “The Administration is dead wrong when it brands them illegal.” He asserted that “a little-noted provision in UN Resolution 242 authorizes such settlements until Israel and Jordan agree on secure and recognized borders.”