Israeli Ambassador Meir Rosenne called Sunday for cutting off commercial relations with countries, such as Saudi Arabia, which provide financial assistance to the Palestine Liberation Organization and other terrorist groups.
But William Casey, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said that while the Saudis have paid “lip service” to the U.S. concerns, there is little the United States can do to persuade them to stop funding the PLO.
Both spoke at the opening session of the 27th annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Some 2,000 persons, including 500 college students, are attending the three-day session at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
“We do not think there is any justification for considering Saudi Arabia a peace-loving country so long as it provides — as it has been doing for years — $250 million a year to the PLO, funds that are used for killing Americans, Israelis and other innocents,” Rosenne said.
Casey, who spoke after Rosenne, was asked about the Saudi funding. He said the Saudis support the PLO “for reasons of fear, intimidation and pursuing their own foreign policy objectives. He added that “there is only a limited degree that we can influence them in those matters where they see their vital interests involved.”
THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GROWTH OF TERRORISM
In his speech, Rosenne strongly denounced those he held responsible for the spread of terrorism today. “The responsibility lies with those in democratic states that thought that Israel would be the only victim,” he said. “Now they see their vital interests involved.”
Among others Rosenne blamed for the growth of terrorism are those who seek to claim there are “bad” terrorists such as Abu Nidal and “good” terrorists such as Yasir Arafat; those who have refused to extradite terrorists; Western states that have “accorded virtual diplomatic status to the PLO and permitted PLO offices of function,” as well as “states like Syria, Libya, Iran, that organize, direct and support proxy terrorist forces.”
The Israeli envoy urged an end to appeasing the terrorists, especially by the West Europeans, and called for the closing of all PLO offices. “No one should try to pacify a terrorist organization such as the PLO by granting it the privilege of being a party to any political or diplomatic negotiation,” he said.
In addition, Rosenne called for “a total ban on landing rights in the democratic countries for the airplanes of states — like Libya, Syria, Iran and Iraq — that encourage terrorism.”
COOPERATION ON INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
Both Casey and Rosenne noted that cooperation between Israel and the U.S. had increased on intelligence gathering against terrorism. Casey said this cooperation had also increased between the U.S. and its West European allies. “What we have done very badly is develop a concerted diplomatic action, economic and political sanctions to evoke a penalty on the states which participate in state-sponsored terrorism,” he said.
“Many of our friends and allies are rather slow on that,” Casey said. “We can only hope and believe that the recent outrageous character of terrorist attacks in all countries will stimulate cooperation of that kind.”
Earlier, Kenneth Bialkin, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the conference participants that they can make their own contribution to the anti-terrorism fight by traveling. He said this would be a sign that “you are not intimidated by the threat of terrorism.” AIPAC president Robert Asher said that those who wanted to ensure their safety could fly El Al to London, Paris or Israel.
A SHARED VITAL INTEREST
In his address, Casey, who rarely speaks in public, charged that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has “intensified” the Soviet effort to secure “bridgeheads” to extend Soviet influence in the Middle East, Central America and Africa. He said his Mideast “bridgeheads,” which include Syria and Libya, were aimed at surrounding Israel and the moderate Arab states so as to eventually deny the West its supply of Mideast oil.
Casey said that the U.S. and Israel have “a shared vital interest in arresting this pattern of Soviet expansionism.” He said the U.S. has tried to convince its friends in the Middle East that “Middle East radicals, dedicated to weakening the West and Israel, are also dedicated to the destruction of moderate and pro-Western regimes in the Arab world.”
He stressed that one reason for pressing ahead with the Mideast peace process is “to deny the Soviet Union a lever for entry to the Middle East.”
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