Former Gov. William W. Scranton, of Pennsylvania, who went to the Middle East on a special fact-finding mission for Mr. Nixon last year, has reiterated his controversial statement made at that time that the United States should adopt a “more even-handed” policy in the Middle East.
Gov. Scranton told Christian Science Monitor correspondent Godfrey Sperling, Jr., in an interview published today, that there is “rightly or wrongly the impression all over the Middle East (outside of Israel)–an impression that has been growing in the last two or three years–that the U.S. is interested only in supporting Israel, regardless of what it does,”
The Scranton report to Mr. Nixon has not been made public. His recommendations, however, were “said to have moved President Nixon, more than anything else, to make a No. 1 priority of an effort toward achieving peace in the Mideast,” Mr. Sperling reported. He said Gov. Scranton told him, “I believe that January and February are the key periods” for making progress in that direction.
Gov. Scranton’s suggestion that U.S. Middle East policy could be “more even-handed” generated a furor in pro-Israel circles here and abroad. Some saw in it a proposal that the U.S. swing away from its traditional support of Israel.
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