THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 5, 1977 21
Herzog: Co-Existence, Not Palestinians Is the Central Issue
By YITZHAK RABI
NEW YORK (JTA)—Is-
raeli Premier Menahem
Begin, in his recent visit to
the United States an-
nounced that UN" Arribassa-
dor Chaim Herzog, who
was appointed to his post
two years ago by the pre-
vious Labor government,
will continue to be Israel's
chief delegate to the world
organization.
In a special interview
with the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency, held at the
Israeli Mission headquar-
ters here, • Herzog, who
to serve one more
ear as UN Ambassador,
W discussed and assessed the
situation in the Mideast and
the prospects for progress
there, Israel's position in
the UN- and related issues.
Following are excerpts of
the 60-minute interview:
Rabi: The present Likud
government in Israel is pur-
suing a different foreign pol-
icy than the previous Is-
raeli government which you
have been representing for
the last two years. Isn't
there a conflict that you,
who are identified with the
Labor Party, will be now a
spokesman of the right-
wing Likud government?
Herzog: First of all, an
ambassador represents his
country, not a political
party. Secondly, I do not
see any real problem here
because in our situation the
main issue isn't the policy
of this or that government
of Israel—which may
vary—but rather the policy
of our Arab neighbors, and
I personally have not no-
ticed any change in the atti-
tude of the Arab states.. -
The crux of the problem
is not the substantive issues
of territories, Palestinian
Arabs or settlements in the
(administered)territories.
All of these problems did
not exist between 1949 to
1967, and yet there was no
move toward peace with Is-
rael.
The crux of the problem
is the willingness or unwil-
lingness of the Arab states
to meet with us at the nego-
tiating table in order to
work toward an agreement
on a peace -treaty. The very
act of sitting down with Is-
rear
Election Results -
O
Voters in Oak Park and
Southfield went to the polls
Tuesday to nominate candi-
dates who will face each
other in general elections
Nov. 8.
In Oak Park, nominated
for the full term to the city
council were: Mark H. Cou-
sens, Deborah J. Goldberg,
Charlotte M. Rothstein, Sid-
ney L. Shayne. Nominated
for the two-year term
were: Bernard F, Cronk,
Gerald E. Naftaly.
Nominated for city coun-
cil in Southfield were:
James E. Collins, Stephen
C. Cooper, Vicki Goldbaum,
Steve Hurite, Sidney Lantz,
Sohn Marcosky, . Philip Pe-
terson, Phillip Solomon;
Nominated for treasurer
were Roman Gronkowski,
James Grubbs.
for a face-saving device in
order not to be placed in
the position of saying no to
Geneva. This situation is,
however, complicated now
by the internecine strife in
the Arab world.
CHAIM HERZOG
rael presupposes accept-
ance of Israel. -
When we in Israel and .
the Jewish world debate
among ourselves the differ-
ent types of solutions, we
are in fact putting the cart
before the horse and play-
ing chess with ourselves,
for there are no indications
that they (the Arabs) are
willing to sit face to face
with us. The new Israeli in-
itiative (Begin's peace
plan) has put the ball in the
Arab court and one can
only hope their reply will
be favorable.
Rabi: In his peace plan
Begin said that Israel is
ready to attend a recon-
vened Geneva conference
as of Oct. 10. - In your view,
is the meeting likely to take
place?
Herzog: In principle
there should be no problem
reconvening the Geneva con-
ference as of Oct. 10, be-
cause Begin, in his ap-
proach suggested leaving
everything open without
coordinating subjects in ad-
vance.
Rabi : Do you think that
the question of the Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
tion presence in Geneva is
an obstacle to the reconven-
ing of the conference?
Herzog: If the Arabs in-
sist on PLO participation in
Geneva then Begin's alter-
native (of proximity talks)
will apply.
I have always felt from
discussions in UN corridors
that there is a very consid-
erable degree of dis-
enchantment on the part of
many Arab delegates with
the PLO. I feel that their
support of the PLO in the
UN is, to a great degree,
lip service, and I think that
they will be very heSitant
to forego Geneva because
of the PLO.
I would estimate that the
Nfideast, being what it is,
the Arabs are busy looking
Rabi : Mentioning Arab
strife, what impact, if any,
did the Egyptian-Libyan
clashes have on the Arab-
Israeli conflict?
Herzog: I believe the
Egyptian-Libyan clash only
highlights the fact that the
Arab world is torn more
than ever before. But we
should have no illusions
when it comes to the hatred
of Israel, if, to judge by my
experience at the UN, they
manage to patch up their
differences.
My feeling is that the
more serious the conflict be-
tween the Arab states the
less willing they are to ap-
pear moderate on the issue
of negotiating with Israel.
Rabi: What are the pros-
pects for Israel in the up-
coming UN General Assem-
bly?
.1.1erzog: As long as there
is a possibility of meeting
in Geneva, Israel will be
subjected to less pressure
in ' the UN. If Geneva should
not appear a realistic. possi-
bility when I anticipate a re-
newal of the attacks on Is-
rael.
Rabi: Is there a danger
of a new war in the Mid-
east in the near future?
Herzog: All the public
statements by the Arab_
leaders maintain that they
are retaining the military
option in addition to politi-
cal option. It is impossible
to estimate whether in fact
the Arab countries would
like to implement their
threats of war.
My own feeling is, after
analyzing the inter-Arab sit-
uation and the internal situ-
ations in various Arab coun-
tries, that their- enthusiasm
for war has very much
dampened, end in no way
matches their public state-
ments.
I believe they are not as
keen to go to war as it
would appear. I should
warn, however, that this
evaluation is based on a log-
ical assessment of various
factors and logic frequently
plays no part in Arab calcu-
lations.
Rabi : A few months ago
U.S. Ambassador Andrew
Young claimed that Israel's
position at the UN has im-
proved. Do -you agree?
Herzog: There is no
doubt whatsoever that Is-
rael has had much easier a
year in the UN compared
to the previous year. The
fact is that during the year
of the 31st General Assem-
bly- (1975-1976) we had not
only the vile, pernicious
anti-Zionism resolution, but,
in addition,-there was a con-
centrated attack on Israel
practically every month in
the Security Council, except
the month when the U.S.
held the presidency of the
Council.
In the year of the 32nd
General Assembly, (1976-
1977) we have had so far
one Security Council meet-
ing against Israel, which
ended by being postponed
and in which the Egyptians
suffered a major setback.
Many factors contributed
to this improvement: Is-
rael's unrelenting fight; the
war in Lebanon and/the
strife in the Arab world;
the concentration of the UN
on southern Africa; the
proud and stroxfg reaction
of world and particularly
American Jewry; and of
course the' ,efforts of the
U.S. government.
Ambassador Young is per-
forming a successful job for
the U.S. in the UN. He is
the oustanding personality
today in the UN and as
such a very important ele-
ment in creating an atmos-
phere of moderation. As for
his attitude toward Israel
and the Jewish people, he
is a good friend and his
heart is in the right place.
Rabi : In view of these de-
velopments would you say
that the UN is gaining a bet-
-
ter public image?
Herzog: No. While the at-
tacks on Israel have eased
off, the Arabs are contin-
uing to destroy the UN and
it looks as if they will- yet
succeed, because the proc-
. ess of politicization in UN
specialized agencies contin-
ues, with the member
states apparently powerless
to do anything.
Recently the Economic
and Social Council voted in
Geneva to admit a terrorist
organization like the PLO
as a full member of the Ec-
onomic Council of Western
Asia (ECWA).
Jews from Arab Countries Call
Sadat Statement 'Hypocrisy'
NEW YORK—The World
Organization of Jews from
Arab Countries (WOJAC)
last week branded the re-
cent invitation by Egyptian
President Anwar el-Sadat
to Jews who had formerly
lived in Egypt to return to
that country as "nothing
but hypocrisy intended to
mislead public opinion."
Norma Balass, WOJAC's
executive director, remind-
ed President Sadat that in
1947, Egypt's UN represen-
tative threatened the Jews
then living- in Israel with im-
minent massacre. "The
Jews from Egypt will never
again let Egypt make them
hostages of Arab bruta-
lity," she said.
Miss Balass pointed out
that as a result of anti-Jew-
ish measures, only five per-
cent of Egyptian Jews had
had Egyptian citizenship.
During the period from 1956
to 1958, the Egyptian gov-
ernment enacted laws "that
indicated clearly its impla-
cable enmity toward
Jews," she said.
Today there are about 400
Jews still living in Egypt
out of a Jewish population
of 80,000 in 1949.
The utter incongruity of
this move is highlighted by
the fact that Israel, a mem-
ber state in Western Asia,
was not admitted to ECWA
while a terrorist organiza-
tion which is not a state has
been admitted.
We were very disturbed
to see countries like Greece
and Jamaica voting to sit
the PLO 'as a state. This is
the height of cynicism
which must shock anybody
to whom the future of the
UN is important.
Talking of cynicism,
Cuba, which is trying to in=
gratiate itself in U.S. public
opinion, has been adopting
an increasingly anti-Israel,
anti-Jewish position in the
UN, in recent months, in-
cluding the fact that Cuba
is the only non-Arab coun-
try to have recently pub-
licly reaffirmed its support
of the Zionism-is-racism res-
olution:
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