The United States said today that it “deeply regrets” Israel’s decision to build another settlement near the Arab town of Nablus on the West Bank and that it considered “absolutely reprehensible” the Palestine Liberation Organization’s acknowledged assassination of a Moslem religious leader in Gaza for supporting the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. But in neither case, however, did the Carter Administration indicate any moves to after its relationship with Israel or its policy toward the PLO.
State Department spokesman Hodding Carter discussed both matters at his press briefing today. He said “the point most disturbing” about the Israeli Cabinet’s decision yesterday is that the “establishment of new settlements is harmful to the peace process” and “it is particularly regrettable at this time with negotiations just beginning” among the U.S., Egypt and Israel “to establish a new relationship” for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“We feel it is detrimental and pre-judging the outcome of the negotiations, Carter said. “The point we are trying to stress is that we are getting down to negotiating this real estate” and the settlement “is bound to have a negative effect on the participants.” Later he withdrew the term “real estate” and acknowledged that “obviously we consider this an extraordinarily sensitive issue.”
Carter said, however, that the U.S. would not take any steps to prevent further settlements in the future, observing rhetorically, “other than diplomatic steps between friends–no. “He said he was not aware of any pledge by Israel not to establish further settlements. He replied “yes” when asked if this is a continuing problem.
Asked if privately owned land was being expropriated for the settlement near Nablus, Carter said “We don’t know what the land is. If any private land is involved we would deeply regret that aspect of it. Taking private property is distressing.”
Concerning the murder Friday night of Sheikh Hashem Al-Huzander, the Imam (religious leader) of Gaza, Carter said he was “incapable of making an accurate assessment of the effect” of the assassination. “But it can’t be anything but harmful,” he noted. “We obviously condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Since the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) seem eager to take credit, we include them in the condemnation, “Carter said.
Asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency what position the U.S. would take against the PLO if it seeks political control by assassination, Carter replied that assassination “is not acceptable.” But he would not indicate any action that would alter the U.S. position toward the PLO of which the PFLP is an integral part.
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.
