The State Department said today that Ambassador Robert Strauss, President Carter’s special envoy for Middle East negotiations, is going to Israel and Egypt this week in order to find out how to achieve progress in the Israeli Egyptian talks on autonomy. Strauss, who leaves Washington Thursday, will be discussing this effort with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, according to State Department spokesman Tom Reston.
However, Strauss, who had pushed up his Mideast visit twice, had said earlier that he had done so to calm the present tension in Israeli-American relations.
(Addressing the American Bar Association in Houston, Texas today Strauss described as “false” the idea that there has been a lessening of U.S. commitment to keep Israel strong. He also affirmed; “We would like to see the Palestinians in the (peace) talks now, as the Camp David agreement provides And their acceptance of (United Nations Security Council) Resolution 242 and of Israel’s right to exist would be a major step along the road to peace.”See full story P.3.)
Reston said that Strauss’ deputy, James Leonard, is returning to the Mideast to help Egypt and Israel in the autonomy talks. “Our delegation has been capably led by Jim Leonard,” Reston added. Leonard has been criticized by Israel for making proposals in the autonomy talks which Israel feels are against its interests.
There are no plans for Strauss to visit Jordan and Saudi Arabia during this trip, Reston said, although both countries will be informed of developments through diplomatic channels.
Reston said Strauss will take with him a delegation of American businessmen to explore investment opportunities in Israel. “This is a similar type of operation to the one he (Strauss) had in Cairo on his last trip to the Middle East when he also took a group of American businessmen with him,” Reston said.
The Department spokesman said that Israeli Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin, who is leaving for the U.S. Wednesday, does not plan to meet with any Administration officials in Washington or anywhere else. He said he understood from the Israeli Embassy that Yadin will be on a private visit and will be in New York and Chicago but not Washington.
Yadin is scheduled to address a luncheon meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York City Friday. He is also due to speak to the 65th annual national convention of Hadassah which is being held in Chicago Aug. 19-22. Strauss, meanwhile, has invited the Presidents Conference to meet with him in Washington Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Reston sought to assure reporters that a meeting July 23 between Andrew Young, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Zehadi Labib Terzi, the Palestine Liberation Organization observer at the UN in New York, was “just happenstance”
Reston said Young and his son went to the home of Kuwaiti Ambassador Abdolla Yaccoub Bishara who has a son the same age as Young’s son. He said while Young was there Terzi arrived but the two only exchanged normal amenities during the 15 minutes they were in the same apartment. No diplomatic exchanges took place Reston stressed.
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.
