ZOA Leader Urges U.S. to Abandon Demand for Substantial Israeli Withdrawals

The president of the Zionist Organization of America tonight urged the Administration to abandon its demand for substantial Israeli withdrawals to pre-1967 borders as part of its “diplomatic package” to secure a Middle East settlement. The “self-imposed” and “self-defeating” American dictum for Israeli concessions–“a perennial State Department hangup”–“is responsible more than any single factor for encouraging the Arab-Russian axis to believe a genuine peace can be avoided,” Herman L. Weisman of New York told the opening session of the ZOA’s national convention here where nearly 1,000 delegates are meeting this weekend. In a message to the convention, President Nixon reaffirmed “the strength of the common goals of the United States and Israel toward the realization of a Middle East settlement.” And he promised to “continue to help Israel and its Arab neighbors” to make peace “a permanent reality.”

Weisman, in his address to the convention, said the State Department’s “fixation” with an Israeli pullback, which surfaced most recently in the United States’ abortive proposal to reopen the Suez Canal, “supports the Arab-Soviet position that sheer inflexibility will pressure Israel into concessions that will restore her vulnerability, thereby frustrating any change for real negotiations.” He described this attitude as “particularly unwise” in light of recent instances of unrest within and among Arab states. The unrest, Weisman said, indicates a favorable headlines for the introduction of “a stronger and more affirmative American policy which would seek to move the Arabs away from preconditions that leave hardly anything open to negotiation.” Weisman urged the U.S. government to launch “immediate consultation” with the Soviet government on an eventual pullout of Soviet military personnel from Egypt and a cessation of arms deliveries to the Cairo regime. The ZOA leader also asked Washington to end its “prolonged and agonizing reappraisal of the military balance between Israel and Egypt” and sell Israel the planes and other aid she has asked for. Finally. Weisman called on the U.S. to recommend direct Arab-Israeli negotiations as soon as possible. Such a policy shift, he said, should be made in advance of the fall session of the United Nations, beginning Sept. 21, at which time the Middle East situation is expected to be taken up again. “A new thrust in American policy is essential,” he said, to prevent “any tampering” with the Security Council Resolution of Nov. 22, 1967, setting guidelines for a Middle East settlement.