The United States continued today to avoid becoming publicly committed to any suggested formula for approaches towards peace in the Middle East or to become involved openly in resolving the situation in southern Lebanon which contains threats to Israel’s security.
The U.S. “remains committed to maintain the peace process” in the Middle East, State Department spokesman Frederick Brown said today after noting that over the past several weeks “a number of participants” have expressed comments on the “need for new moves” in the area.
Saying it is “probably premature to comment” on the proposals, Brown noted that “we agree such moves are desirable” and “we are staying in very close contact with the governments involved.” However, he indicated the U.S. is avoiding comments on the statements by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat or Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and others.
Brown’s remarks came when he was asked for the U.S. view on Rabin’s weekend statement at the Socialist International Conference in Geneva suggesting a conference on Middle East problems on the model of the Helsinki conference of 1975.
Brown said that the U.S. is “not making any proposals.” for resolving the situation in southern Lebanon regarding Israel’s warnings that it will not tolerate Palestinian terrorists or Syrian military in that area from which the Palestinians staged raids on Israeli settlements. Brown said the U.S. is not “conveying” any proposals or assurances but is only making sure the viewpoints of the parties involved are clearly under-stood. He also said that the U.S. is supporting Lebanese President Elias Sarkis’ establishment of authority throughout Lebanon.
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