Vance Emphasizes Importance of Resolving Israeli-arab Conflict

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance presented the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today with an “overall U.S. foreign policy” in which he listed the achievement of a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East among four primary problems in the world today, all of them centering on that region.

He emphasized the importance of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict and noted that “immediate attention” is being given to the autonomy negotiations between Israel, Egypt and the U.S. He said the parties are now discussing “substantive issues like security, water and land.”

The primary problems Vance referred to included the fate of the American hostages in front, safe-guarding the Persian Gulf region and the potential for instability within nations and between nations in that region in which the Soviet Union is interested.

Vance said a comprehensive peace agreement “would strengthen Israel to which we are unshakably committed” and “strengthen its neighbors.” He warned that “regional conflicts pose the danger of wider conflagration” and stressed the need for “peaceful relation of disputes in Doubled regions of the world.”

The Secretary of State referred to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty as an historic breakthrough” and called the Camp David accords on which the treaty is based “the best process in 30 years to bring peace and security to Israel, Egypt and their neighbors.” He added, “We cannot let it slip away.”

Without mentioning the names of countries, Vance spoke of “sensible military assistance” to America’s “friends” so that “local security balance can be preserved.” His main thrust was the Soviet challenge to the U.S. for world leadership. He noted that the Carter Administration was presenting large programs of military assistance and cautioned that “If we change our military assistance now, we’ll be short-changing our own future safety.”