A Middleast Settlement: Prospects for Peace?

Abstract

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE|Between 1950 and 1955, Mr. Argov attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and the London School of Economics. From 1955-1959 Mr. Argov was on the staff of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. In 1959, he was appointed Israel's first Consul-General in Lagos, NIgeria, following which he served as Counsellor of the Embassy of Israel in Accra, Ghana. From 1961-1964 he served as Consul of Israel in New York City. Upon returning home in 1965 he assumed the position of Deputy Director of the USA Division in the MInistry for Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.

ANNECDOTE| Committee questions were rarely soft and peppered Israel positions re the Middle East and Israel criticism of other countries' policies elsewhere in the world. After the meeting Argov asked which Committee question I thought typified the mood of the meeting. I quoted a prefatory remark from a questioner, "There's no question about the U.S. being commited to Israel but rather of the extent of that commitment, especially given Israeli intransigence." He said he had run into that sentiment repeatedly in the Commiittees but that it puzzled him, both in its origin and in how to overcome it." Guess reality can be tough on a blind man.

SUMMARY| His formal remarks constituted a brief recounting of Israel's "4.5" wars, a picturing of the Arab opponents, analysis of the Soviet role in the Middle East, and stipulation of Israel's firm positions. He contends that the US must support Israel to achieve the US goal of keeping the USSR from bottling up the Gulf; that means supporting Israeli positions of "no Palestine on the West Bank," no internationalization of Jerusalem, recognizing the state of Israel, ending war.