Sen. Frank Church (D., Idaho) announced a “major break” with the Nixon administration foreign policy with a report contending that Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ formula for a Middle East settlement only encourages the Arab world “to refuse to face up to the realities of the situation.” Church, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also accused the United Nations of applying a “double standard” to the Middle East and other parts of the world.
His 24-page report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released Friday, dealt with his fact-finding mission to Israel last month. The Rogers plan, set forth on Dec. 9,1969, called for Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in the Six-Day War except for “insubstantial changes.” “The Rogers plan keeps alive the hopes of the Arab world that the results of the war can somehow be set aside,” Church asserted.
“It cannot be done and the United States policy should not continue to foster such illusions,” he added. “As long as United States policy holds out the hope that the United Nations or outside powers can induce Israel to sacrifice what it considers to be its vital interests, namely secure borders, the Arab nations will refuse to face up to the realities of the situation.”
Church’s criticism of the Rogers plan was seen by observers here as an anti-climax to President Nixon’s statement to prominent Jewish leaders in New York last week that the US would “under no circumstances impose a settlement in the Middle East,” and that the administration was committed to the survival and strength of Israel. According to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, the Jewish leaders were ecstatic by the President’s pledge.
Church also assailed the Soviet Union for its policy on emigration of Russian Jews to Israel. He declared that “The Soviet policy, like the Berlin wall, acts as a barrier to the migration of people and deserves condemnation by the international community.”
The government denied today newspaper reports that President Nixon sent a special message to Premier Golda Meir urging Israeli restraint toward Lebanon. A government spokesman said, “I can say no such message was received.” The report, attributed to American newspapers, appeared today in Maariv. The spokesman said the US had not urged restraint either through a Presidential message or any other channels.
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