Dinitz: U.S. Will Support Israel if She Decides Not to Talk with Stria

The United States will support Israel should it decide to refuse to sit down with Syria at the Geneva peace conference next week unless Damascus by then has complied with the Geneva Convention requiring it to submit lists of Israeli prisoners of war in its hands, Ambassador Simcha Dinitz said here today. The Israeli envoy arrived from Washington this afternoon to participate in a special session of the Cabinet tomorrow which will be devoted to the Geneva peace conference and the visit Sunday of U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.

Dinitz said that while the Americans are very anxious that the Geneva talks open without a hitch they understand that the conference could be jeopardized by Syrian intransigence and brutality toward POWs. The memory is still fresh in America of their own POWs in Vietnam. Dinitz said. He stated that the U.S. was doing every thing possible to get Syria to comply with the Geneva Convention, including approaches to Syria’s ally, the Soviet Union. He said It was not known up to now whether that pressure has yielded any results.

Dinitz said that to the best of his knowledge, the U.S. will not recognize any Palestinian government-in-exile. He said it was clear that the U.S. does not want a weak Israel in the Geneva talks and is taking steps to assure that Israel is not weak when it goes to the peace conference.