Simcha Dinitz, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, predicted yesterday during his briefing to the Cabinet on the implications of a change of Administration in the White House next January that the Carter Administration will seek to achieve an overall settlement in the Middle East and that the period of interim settlements is over.
The envoy, who arrived in Israel Friday for consultations following the American presidential election, said that there would be in principle a continuation in Washington’s policy in the Mideast He reportedly stated that Washington would continue to stick to its strongholds in the Arab world and seek to continue to limit Soviet influence without actually getting into a confrontation with the USSR.
Dinitz expressed belief that the political momentum in the area would begin in several months but did not expect any pressures on Israel. He noted, for example, that President-elect Jimmy Carter’s position against the Arab economic boycott and a possible oil embargo was genuine. The ambassador also contended that it was mainly the Jewish vote in New York and the votes of trade union members that gave Carter his victory. Support for Carter by labor, Dinitz noted, was organized by Vice-President-elect Walter Mondale. Dinitz also said he expected a Congress with more friends of Israel in it which will work closer with the President than it had done in the past.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
