Ambassador Robert Strauss, President Carter’s special envoy to the Middle East, declared today that the United States will never lessen its commitment to Israel. But at the same time, he stressed that a solution to the Palestinian problem is necessary, not only to end violence and terrorism but to achieve an enduring peace in the Mideast.
U.S. efforts to achieve Mideast peace “will always have as our absolute requirement the security of Israel, its borders and its people, Strauss said in a speech to the American Bar Association (ABA) in Houston, Texas. “This nation will never walk away from any of its commitments to Israel.”
Strauss told the ABA that “a strong, vital and independent Israel is indispensable to enduring peace and stability in the Middle East.” He added that “The solution to the Palestinian problem, with the cycle of terrorism, violence and destruction it has caused, is not only morally essential, but it too, is indispensable to enduring peace and stability in the Middle East.”
The Presidential envoy declared that he will not depart from the mandate given him by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the Camp David agreements in the current negotiations. with Israel and Egypt for Palestinian autonomy. He urged the Palestinians to accept the UN resolutions to join the peace talks.
The State Department, in releasing the text of Strauss’ speech here, cautioned reporters not to read into it any changes in the U.S. position toward the PLO. The PLO was not mentioned by name in the speech.
PLO SAYS NO TO U.S.
(Meanwhile, the PLO’s 57-member Palestine Central Council meeting in Damascus said it would reject any UN resolution that did not explicitly recognize the Palestinians’ right to an independent stat. It was reported last week that the U.S. would veto a Kuwaiti sponsored resolution now pending in the UN Security Council on Palestinian rights because it would alter Resolution 242 by calling for Palestinian self-determination and an independent state. President Carter also rejected such a state in an interview with editors last Friday.
(The Palestine Central Council, including PLO chief Yasir Arafat, also reportedly agreed that hints that are U.S. might enter into a dialogue with the PLO were merely maneuvers aimed at alienating radicals from moderates in the PLO)
Strauss, who is leaving for Israel and Egypt on Thursday, told the ABA that he rejected charges that have appeared in the last few weeks that the U.S. is lessening its commitment to Israel.
The idea that there has been a lessening of the U.S. commitment to keep Israel strong — so that it will remain secure — to promote Israel’s future, or to fulfill all our undertakings and commitments to Israel is false, “he said. “The idea that we reject or are Insensitive to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people is equally false.”
According to the text of Strauss speech as released here, he told the ABA; “As the President’s personal representative to the Middle East peace negotiations, my mandate is Resolutions 242 and 338, and the Camp David accords, in their entirety. Secretary of State (Cyrus) Vance took the lead in developing and fully supports that mandate. I will work with Egypt and Israel under that mandate as expeditiously as possible. But no artificial deadline — no position of the United States — will be set that goes beyond that mandate.
“In carrying out that mandate, we are also doing our utmost to work with other parties in the Middle East to try to gain their support for the peace effort. I have been to Israel and Egypt and to other Arab countries as well. I want to broaden and deepen this effort, within the framework of established U.S. policy.
“All parties recognize, in the Camp David agreements and elsewhere that the Palestinian people have a right to participate in determining their future. The Camp David framework not only affirms this right — it commits the parties for the first time to a practical program of negotiation by which Palestinian rights can be translated into concrete reality. We must recognize the historical importance of this achievement, and we must be certain that we proceed now in a manner that does not weaken it.
“In support of these rights we are working hard to create a self-governing authority that will meet the needs of all the parties and give the Palestinians a stake in the process and in their future. We would like to see the Palestinians in the talks now, as the Camp David agreement provides. And their acceptance of Resolution 242 and of Israel’s right to exist would be a major step along the road to peace.”
(While Strauss was telling the ABA that the U.S. wants the Palestinians to participate in the peace talks, Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan was telling a meeting of Likud Knesset members in Tel Aviv that the Egyptians and Americans now have as their top priority bringing the Palestinians to the peace negotiations table. As a result, he said, the U.S. is presently seeking a legal basis for recognizing the PLO so that it may represent the Palestinians in the negotiations.)
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