Rogers to Address Senate on Mideast Views; Split in Senate Developing

Secretary of State William P. Rogers will appear before the full Senate tomorrow afternoon to present the State Department’s position on the Middle East situation, State Department spokesman Charles Bray reported today. This is believed to be the first time in American history that a Secretary of State will have made such an appearance. “The Secretary is anxious to give the facts of the situation, the facts of the American position and the facts of the parties as we understand them, to the Senate,” Bray said. He denied that Rogers is seeking concurrence with the Senate on a Big Four peace-keeping force in the Mideast. The spokesman refused to be drawn into a discussion as to whether the State Department position is being supported by a majority of the Congress. In response to a question whether it was Senator J. William Fulbright, Republican of Arkansas, and chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, or New York Republican Jacob Javits who was interested in the Secretary’s appearance before the Senate, Bray replied, “My understanding is that the interest was first expressed by the office of the Senate Majority Leader” Mike Mansfield, Montana Democrat.

Bray said he thought the decision for Rogers’ appearance had come before yesterday’s debate in the Senate in which Democratic Senators Henry M. Jackson, Hubert H. Humphrey and Abraham Ribicoff and Javits joined in opposing the Rogers’ plan calling for Israel’s withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders and the deployment of Soviet troops in a peace-keeping force in the Middle East. Fulbright’s defense of Rogers’ proposal was supported by Senator George D. Aiken Republican of Vermont. Fulbright was summoned to the Senate floor from a committee briefing by Aiken as Jackson and Javits denounced Rogers’ proposal. Fulbright said he agreed with Rogers that security gained by the retention of territory was “illusory.” He urged Israel to reaffirm its support in principle of the United Nations Resolution 242 and charged that the Israelis were “hardening” their position on withdrawal because they believe that the U.S. and the Senate “Will be completely at their disposal” no matter what position they take. Israel should not “take the United States so much for granted,” Fulbright warned.

Meanwhile, the State Department refused to comment today on a report appearing in the New York Times that a “campaign” had been organized in the Senate against Rogers’ proposal. Observers here however, expressed their puzzlement as to why the Secretary felt it was necessary to appear before the Senate after he had testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Middle East situation only two weeks ago. At the same time, Bray declined to comment on a report appearing today in the Chicago Sun-Times stating that President Nixon has ruled out the stationing of any Russian troops on Israel’s borders as part of a UN peace-keeping force in the Middle East. According to the report, reliable administration sources had disclosed that an exhaustive top-level study is under way to determine how best to deploy Russian, U.S. and other troops within the peace-keeping force.