Veteran Diplomat Assesses Situation in the Mideast

A veteran diplomat and former Undersecretary of State told the National Executive Committee of the Zionist Organization of America last night that the Palestinians are as divided as the Arab states and that “there is no Palestinian leader who can speak and act for the brood majority of the Palestinian people and who can make an agreement with Israel and make it stick.”

Joseph Sisco, who served in the Nixon and Ford Administrations, told 200 ZOA leaders from throughout the United States gathered here for a two-day meeting that the Palestinian Arabs on the West Bank have not given up hope for a “negotiated solution” with Israel and that they have “no interest in giving up their power to Palestinians who reside outside the West Bank.”

At the meeting at the Warwick Hotel here, Sisco, who recently resigned as president of American University, and who recently was in the Mideast, also predicted “serious difficulties” between the United States and Europe over the Arab-Israel dispute. He declared that “Europe has no real clout in the area. When Europe takes the initiative it is to apply pressure on the U.S. to apply pressure on Israel.”

Commenting on what he perceived as a policy of the Reagan Administration toward the Mideast, Sisco told the ZOA that the new Administration would consult more with Israel; would commit itself to the security and survival of Israel in a firm and abiding manner; would play a critical role in the diplomacy of the area; and would adhere firmly to a nonrecognition and no-contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In his speech, Sisco also said that “the security and survival of Israel was inextricably linked with that of the U.S.” He anticipated a strong U.S. military presence in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.