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Pat* 20 THE SOUTHERN ISRAEUTE February 10, 1979
Sen. Church opens up
on Camp David aftermath
by Trade B. Feldman
Senator Church with hHanrlewer Feldman.
WASHINGTON- Senator
Frank Church predicts that if the
peace treaty between Israel and
Egypt is not signed this year, it may
not be signed for a long time.
“I feel this way because the
accords reached at Camp David
were based upon a series of events
that preceded them that are not
likely to be duplicated again in
our lifetime,” Sen. Church said.
“Both Israel and Egypt came very
close to a peace treaty based upon
those accords. If all that falls apart
this year, then no one can foretell
how long it will be before a series of
fortuitous circumstances are again
before us that might lead to peace.”
When the 96th Congress
convened last month, Frank
Church became chairman of the
prestigious and powerful Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
During an interview in his Senate
office, Church gave his views on
the aftermath of Camp David.
Concerning the Middle East
peace negotiations, and
particularly, the Camp David
accords, Sen. Church said the
West Bank question, in his
opinion, was handled in the only
way that Israel and Egypt found
possible.
“On the one hand, Israel could
not agree to the establishment of
an independent Palestinian state
on the West Bank,” he said. “On
the other hand, Egypt couldn’t
agree to have the question of the
Palestinians ignored in any peace
accord. And so, the formula that
was found contained certain
intentional ambiguities while
committing Israel to the principle
of autonomy and permitted
sufficient elbow room to enable
Israel to carry out those pledges
over a five-year period, in ways
that would prove feasible.
“There were reasons that the
language relating to the West Bank
avoided certain specifics,” Church
added. “No one could foresee what
obstacle Jordan might place in the
way, or what attitude King
Hussein might take that would
prove complicating. No one could
predict what demands the Saudi
Arabians or the Syrians might
make that would aggravate the
problem on the West Bank. No one
could be certain of the Palestinian
reaction within the West Bank
itself, and how that would have to
be dealt with, or the time frame
within which it would prove
possible to bring about this
measure of autonomy that Israel
had promised.
“In other words,” he continued,
“the West Bank formula was the
best that could be achieved under
the circumstances; and, given an
element of good faith on both
sides, there was every reason to
believe that the principles would be
observed, and progress would be
made as rapidly as events made
possible.”
Sen. Church went on to say that
the difficulties that have arisen
since Camp David have been “due
to the effort to re-write the
understanding that was reached on
the West Bank, to add footnotes to
it; attempting to establish a linkage
between that agreement and the
peace treaty agreements between
Israel and Egypt, or to set a
definite time table, which had been
avoided for good reason, in the
original document.”
He added that when those
developments occurred, the
United States “would have been
better advised had we simply
insisted that both parties adhere to
the understanding which was
reached at Camp David; that that
was the basis upon which both had
pledged to make peace, and that
we would insist—even-handedly—
that Israel observe its part of the
bargain, and that Egypt observe its
part of the bargain, and that we
would have taken a very strong
position in opposition to attempts
to re-write the Camp David
accords.”
Asked if he thought the Carter
Administration is tilting towards
Egypt, Sen. Church replied: “I
think, certainly, an impression was
created that we were attempting to
interpret Article Six which states
that Egypt and Israel will “fulfill in
good faith their obligations under
this Treaty, without regard to
action or inaction of any other
party and independently of any
instrument external to this
Treaty.") in a way that the
Egyptians desired; and here, in my
judgment, we made a mistake. The
two parties had agreed upon
Article Six, and therefore, it
should have spoken for itself, and
should have been left alone.”
Where did we go wrong?
“Perhaps our own desire to see a
peace treaty signed between Israel
and Egypt led us to believe that if
we pressured Israel to accept the
Egyptian interpretation, that that
would remove the last obstacle to
peace,” Sen. Church responded.
“But the problem with this is that
once you begin to unravel an
agreement by endorsing one side’s
interpretation of the language,
then there is a great temptation to
insist on other clarifications.
“And, this is where we now find
ourselves. It is not only a question
of Article Six, it is also a question
of the linkage between the two
agreements, and a specific time
table for the completion of various
steps contemplated for the West
Bank. Thus, instead of removing
the obstacles, we followed a course
that has added new obstacles.”
However, Senator Church
believes that the two parties
themselves also made mistakes
since Camp David.
“The Israeli and Egyptian
Governments also erred,” he
emphasized. “There is enough
blame to go around. But, had the
United States—after Camp
David—simply insisted that the
accords, as written, be observed by
both sides—since both govern
ments had signed and agreed upon
them—then, we would be closer to
the peace treaty, or perhaps, have
in hand that treatv tndav ”
“ Dreyfuss to Perform In Alliance’s ‘Othello’ ”
Atlanta Constitution. February 7, 1979
YESHIVA HIGH SCHOOL OF ATLANTA
Presents a Benefit Performance of
SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
Starring Paul Winfield as the Moor and Richard Dreyfuss as /ago
Sunday, April 29, 1979, 8 o’clock
Alliance Theater—Atlanta Memorial Arts Center
1280 Peachtree Street at 15th Street
Tickets: $9.00 regular; $18.00 Patron
Patron tickets entitle the holder to preferential seating and a gala reception with the cast following the performance.
Please send me the following tickets:
at $18.00; __ at $9.00
(Number of tickets) (Number of tickets)
Enclosed is my check for —.
Name -
Address
City State Zip
Phone
Make checks payable to Yeshiva High School of Atlanta
1745 Peachtree Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30309