The security of Israel must never depend on American guarantees, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States declared here. Simcha Dinitz, addressing the American Jewish Committee on the closing day of its four-day 71st annual meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel yesterday, also rejected the idea of demilitarized zones on either side of Israel’s borders, stating that “demilitarized zones depend on the good will of parties on both sides, and lose their viability if good will ceases on either side.”
“It would be the greatest mistake for Israel, for America and for American Jews if Israel were to depend on U.S. guarantees for her continued existence,” Dinitz stated. He continued: “The day we win a war with American help will be the day we lose the war. I don’t want a single American mother to mourn for the death of a son defending the State of Israel.”
Dinitz, who returned from England Saturday night where he attended the discussions between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Israel’s Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, stressed that Israel’s borders established after the Six-Day War were never legally recognized as final–“not by Israel, not by the Arabs, not in the armistice, not by the United Nations in Resolution 242” of 1967.
Referring to comments about possible demilitarized zones made by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt during his recent visit to the U.S., Dinitz declared: “Even Sadat realizes that the ’67 borders are not secure. The trouble is that, although he detects the illness, he offers the wrong prescription.”
On the subject of a possible establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank, Dinitz said: “We can never allow a third state between Israel and Jordan because it would threaten the viability of the entire Middle East. It would be a Soviet enclave in the heart of the Levant. I don’t understand how President Sadat, who is so concerned about the Soviet presence in Africa, can seriously welcome Soviet influence into the area that is of greatest concern to his country and his people.”
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.
