U.S. Businessmen’s Group, Including Cyrus Vance, Urges U.S. to Back International Mideast Conference

A group of prominent American-Jewish and American-Arab businessmen and women urged the U.S. government Tuesday to support an international conference for Middle East peace because failure to grasp the current opportunity could endanger world peace. That call was contained in a statement released by The Business Group for Middle East Peace and Development at a press conference at the Sky Club here. The group, whose members have close ties to Israel and the Arab world, has been working quietly for the past five years to advance the Middle East peace process and promote the economic development of the region, particularly the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The members include Najeeb Halaby, former chairman of Pan American Airlines, whose daughter, Queen Noor, is the wife of King Hussein of Jordan; Howard Squadron, a New York attorney and former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Vance noted at the press conference that he is the only group member who is neither of Jewish nor Arab origin.

SEE OPPORTUNITY NOW

He said the group is making its views public because developments in recent months have created an opportunity to bring together the parties to the Middle East dispute. “If this opportunity is not grasped, there is a danger that peace in the Middle East and the world will be shattered,” he said.

The statement issued at the press conference said: “There appears to be serious consideration by the interested parties in a peace conference that could be convened under international auspices. The only role of the conveners would be to provide a forum for the commencement of bilateral negotiations between Israel and each of the other parties to the dispute. While we do not necessarily regard this method of getting ‘to the table’ as the best method, we believe our government should support the convening of such a conference.

“We recognize that Israel and each of the Arab negotiating parties are diametrically opposed on certain key issues and understand that those issues may prove to be difficult. It is clear, however, that such disputes will never be resolved peacefully in the absence of a negotiating process; we can only hope that such a process will succeed.”

The group agreed that a peace conference should be convened without preconditions and that the Soviet Union should have a part in it. Vance and Squadron disagreed over participation by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Vance, stressing that he spoke for himself, said the PLO should be included if it renounces violence and accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, which imply recognition of Israel.

Squadron, also speaking for himself, said that in view of the PLO’s radicalization at the Palestine National Council meeting in Algiers earlier this year, its participation should be ruled out.

Halaby said it is important that the situation in the Middle East “will not be frozen.” He said King Hussein “came forward with all the risks involved” in order to make progress toward peace.

CLAIM ONGOING CONTACTS

According to the statement, “The group has maintained political contacts with all the parties involved in the Middle East dispute with the limited goal of expediting the initiation of a meaningful peace process between Israel, on the one hand, and each of the other interested parties.”

The group said it was moved to speak out “because there seems at this time to be a possibility for progress in both of the areas that we have concentrated on” — Middle East peace and economic development. With respect to the latter, the statement said: “We believe the proposal for major programs of economic development in the Middle East, particularly the West Bank and Gaza, deserve the widest possible international support. We believe that it is time for the Western European nations and Japan to join together with us to provide financial resources to make this progress a reality.”

Squadron expressed concern that unless the Reagan Administration acts now, the opportunity for peace will be lost. He noted that foreign policy initiatives are not likely to be taken next year, an election year in the U.S., and the next Administration is unlikely to make any serious moves immediately after it takes office in 1989.

In addition to Vance, Halaby and Squadron, the statement was signed by Robert Arnow, Saul Cohen, Stephen Cohen, Lester Crown, Edith and Henry Everett, Philip Habib, (the former Middle East peace negotiator), Jerrier Haddad, Joseph Jacobs, Alfred Moses, Lewis Rudin, Donna Shalala, Stephen Shalom, Gerald Silbert and Albert Tahmoush.