Scant Attention Given to Arab-israel Conflict During Haig’s Confirmation Hearings

Israel-Arab relations have received scant attention in the first two days of the Republican-controlled Senate Foreign Relation’s committee hearings on the confirmation of Gen, Alexander Haig as Secretary of State, although Haig stressed that the incoming Reagan Administration is “highly supportive” of the Camp David agreements and would pursue the “Jordanian option.”

Most of the discussion during the first two days of the hearings Friday and yesterday centered on Haig’s view on United States policy toward the Soviet Union and his role in the Nixon Administration, particularly on Vietnam and Watergate.

But as the hearings were scheduled to continue tomorrow, it appeared that the committee would not allow squabbling between the majority Republicans and minority Democrats over efforts to obtain tapes of conversations between Haig and President Nixon in 1973 to prevent Haig from being confirmed by the time Ronald Reagan is in augurated as President on Jan. 20.

The Arab-Israel conflict also received scant mention in Haig’s prepared remarks to the committee Friday. “In the Middle East, an uneasy peace continues to be punctuated by raid and reprisal, with each a sequence threatening renewed and wider conflict, “he said.

Later in his statement, when he decried what he called confusion in the Carter Administration’s foreign policy, Haig said that “U.S. policy has been most effective–in Europe and the Middle East for example–where consistent U.S. interests have been consistently pursued. “But when he was asked to list priorities in American foreign policy, he spoke of Poland, Afghanistan, Iran, terrorism and the crises in Latin America, but did not mention the Arab-Israeli situation.

SUPPORTIVE OF CAMP DAVID

Haig’s statement that both Reagan and he were “highly supportive” of the Camp David agreements was made in response to a question from Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R. Minn.), the new chairman of the committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East. Haig praised President Carter for his “tremendous diplomatic achievement” in getting agreements on the Camp David accords.

He said that the “Jordanian option” to bring Jordan into talks with Israel and Egypt on the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be acted upon by the new Administration “in direct consultation with the various parties–Tel Aviv and Cairo.” No one challenged his use of Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem.

Responding to Sen. Claiborne Pell (D. R. I.), the committee’s new ranking minority member, Haig said Soviet treatment of its dissidents and Jews “has been always one of the highest priorities” in U.S. Soviet relations. He added that he noted “with some alarm” the “sharp dropoff” in Soviet Jewish emigration after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

A familiar figure at the hearings is former Sen. Jacob Javits (R. NY), who would have been chairman if he had not been defeated for re-election in November. He is serving as special counsel to the committee’s Republican majority.

One of the persons sitting with Haig is David Korn, a professor of Russian and Eastern History at Howard University, who is Haig’s special assistant. Korn, who has been a leader in the Washington Jewish community’s efforts to help Soviet Jewry, has long been a close friend of Haig.

The seven-member Middle East subcommittee will have an unusual feature, since both Sen. Charles Percy (R. III.), chairman of the full committee, and Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R. Tenn.) will be on it. The other members are Sens. Larry Pressler (D. SD), Paul Sarbanes (D. Md.), John Glenn (D. Ohio) and Alan Cranston (D. Calif.).