Silent Treatment on Case-humphrey Proposal for Mideast Peace Fund

The Carter Administration continued its silence on the Case-Humphrey proposal for a Middle East regional peace fund to be used for Israel and her neighbors as soon as “the political climate permits.”

Sen. Clifford Case of New Jersey, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the ranking Republican on the Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Assistance, urged the Administration in a public statement last week to join in supporting the proposal, but thus far it has chosen not to comment.

In calling on the Administration to support the fund, “and the sooner the better,” Case added “We have heard too much about obstacles to peace and not enough about incentives for peace.”

The proposal to promote scientific and economic cooperation in the Middle East is in the bill prepared by Minnesota Democrat Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey before his death. The bill as a whole would revamp the American Foreign Assistance Program. Although 25 Senators have co-sponsored the program, Case’s office said the Administration has yet to make a “definitive comment” on it.

Queries by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency indicated the State Department opposes the overall measure since it aims at divorcing foreign aid from foreign policy. The Department, it is hinted, is therefore preparing its own legislation on reforming U.S. foreign aid by which it could maintain its authority in a mix of political leverage and humanitarian support. At present, foreign aid is administered by the Agency for International Development under the aegis of the State Department which has a veto over any program.

HUMPHREY’S OBJECTIVE RECALLED

Humphrey’s objective, Case said, was “to revise and modernize the structure of the whole aid program and, additionally, put a higher national priority on development assistance.”

Humphrey, who headed the Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Aid, died before he himself could introduce the bill. Therefore, Case and Sen. John Sparkman (D.Ala.), who as chairman of the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee has assumed Humphrey’s subcommittee chairmanship, have joined in presenting it to the Senate.

Case suggested and Humphrey agreed that “we do something in this year’s foreign aid bill to help the peace process” in the Middle East and they initiated a fund for $50 million to set up the institutional and planning structure to stimulate cooperation and begin projects.

“In many instances,” Case said, “the United States may be able to assist the planning, for example, in joint power projects or in large scale water projects. The planning, development and implementation of a cooperative program between the states of the Middle East could be an important ingredient in the peace process, as well as being good in itself.”

Case pointed out that “Israel has a great deal, of background in the areas of science, agriculture, solar energy and water conservation which could be of assistance to her neighbors. All the states in the area also could save large sums of money and avoid duplication of certain programs, such as power distribution, through joint projects. The key to the establishment of a regional peace fund “is the cooperation of the Carter Administration,” Case said.