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Carter, in His State of the Union Message, Pledges to Work Vigorously for a Comprehensive Mideast Pe

January 23, 1980
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President Center pledged to “continue to work vigorously for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East” in his State of the Union message. He also said he would urge Congress to ratify outstanding human rights treaties and conventions and would proceed, in cooperation with Congress, to “establish an appropriate memorial” to the six million Jews and other victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

The President made those points in his 75-page message, submitted to Congress yesterday. He will deliver his State of the Union message, in abbreviated form, to a joint session of Congress, tomorrow night.

With respect to the Middle East, the President noted that at the ceremonies that followed the Camp David agreements in September, 1978, Premier Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt repeated their “pledge to work for autonomy on the West Bank and Gaza.”

In that connection he observed that since the Camp David accords, “Egypt and Israel have been working to complete this part of the Camp David framework and to provide an opportunity for the Palestinian people to participate in determining their future. I strongly support these efforts and have pledged the, we will be a full partner in the autonomy negotiations. We will continue to work vigorously for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, building on the unprecedented achievements at Camp David.”

The President added, “At the same time, I have referenced America’s commitment to Israel’s security and to the right of all nations in the area to live in peace with their neighbors within secure and recognized frontiers.”

On human rights, Carter said: “I will continue to press the Senate to ratify five key human rights treaties: the American Convention on Human Rights; the Convention on Racial Discrimination; the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights; Economic and Social Rights; and the Genocide Convention.”

WILL IMPLEMENT HOLOCAUST COMMITTEE’S PROPOSALS

The President referred to the Holocaust memorial in the section of his message dealing with the District of Columbia. He said: “Last year received and approved the recommendations of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, which I established to assess how our government might officially recognize, for the first time, the tragedy of the Holocaust. I will shortly be developing a council of distinguished Americans to develop ways to implement the Commission’s proposals. The council and my Administration will work closely with the Congress as we establish an appropriate memorial to the six million Jews and the millions of other victims of Nazism during World War II.”

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