The State Department declined to make “any comment” today on Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s commitment to Israel of U.S. political support should it be forced to act in self-defense against terrorist incursions from Syria. But State Department spokesman Robert Anderson intimated that he was not disputing Premier Golda Meir’s recent disclosure that such commitment was made.
“Mrs. Meir made a statement in the Knesset Thursday. We have no further comment on that statement and we will leave it there.” Anderson said. Asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency if his position was that the U.S. was not going to make public a commitment to another country. Anderson said. “You can interpret that as saying we confirm Mrs. Meir’s statement.” Asked if the commitment had been made known to the Syrian government. Anderson replied that the U.S. leaves the matter to what Mrs. Meir said in the Knesset.
He disclosed that Secretary Kissinger reported on his recent discussion in the Middle East to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in closed session last Friday shortly after his return from the Mideast. Asked why there was a “black out” on news of Kissinger’s negotiations there, Anderson noted that an Israeli-Syrian agreement, a United Nations protocol and maps have been published “and that’s where it is going to stand.”
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