A Soviet Government spokesman said today that his country rejects the Arab guerrilla program for the destruction of the State of Israel but supports the guerrilla efforts to liberate occupied territory. Leonid I. Zamyatin, chief spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told newsmen at a press conference, “Our policy on Israel is clear. We are for the continued existence of Israel in peaceful coexistence with its neighbors.” That affirmation came in the midst of an unprecedented anti-Israel, anti-Zionist campaign in the Soviet Union which has solicited statements condemning Israel from Soviet Jews. Mr. Zamyatin made his remarks in the presence of Deputy Premier Benyamin Dymshits, the highest Jewish office holder in the USSR. Mr. Dymshits was one of 51 prominent Soviet Jews who signed a declaration denouncing Israel, Zionism and “those behind the American imperialists.”
Mr. Zamyatin said the Soviet Government considered “as just the Palestinian movement to free the Israeli-occupied lands.” But he did not elaborate when asked about a statement by EI Fatah chief Yasser Arafat who said, after a visit to Moscow, that the Soviet Union would aid his movement. He also denied reports that President Gamal Abdel Nasser had urgently requested the new MIG-23 Jet fighter bomber from Russia. “He did not ask us for the MIG-23 so we need not discuss it,” he told one reporter. At one point in the press conference, a Soviet General, M.A. Millistein Interrupted to say, “We shall give the Arabs whatever is necessary.”
Mr. Zamyatin also said the Soviet Union favored resumption of the peace mission of United Nations special envoy Gunnar V. Jarring. He also said that President Richard M. Nixon’s recent foreign policy message to Congress did not properly describe the Soviet position in the Mideast. Discussing Arab terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft he said. “The Soviet Union opposes terrorism generally, Including terrorism against aircraft. But the explosion of the Swiss air aircraft, although responsibility was denied by the Arabs, occurred when world public opinion was horrified by the Israeli bombing of Abu Zabaal and was used by Israeli propaganda to divert attention.”
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