Announcement of Middle East Nations Acceptance of
U.S. Cease-Fire Proposal
(July 31, 1970)
Ladies and gentlemen:
As you know, the Secretary of State and I have been
meeting for the past two hours and a half on various foreign policy
matters, but particularly concentrating on the problems of the Mideast.
The Secretary has made a report to me on the latest developments, and
I have a prepared statement which will be issued to all of you immediately
after this statement.
With regard to the developments in the Mideast, as
you know, on June 25th the Secretary announced that the United States
was undertaking a major political initiative, and our objective was
to encourage the parties to the conflict to stop shooting and to start
talking under the auspices of United Nations Ambassador Jarring1 in
accordance with the pertinent resolutions of the U.N. Security Council.
1Gunnar Jarring, Sweden's Ambassador to the Soviet
Union, was Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United
Nations to the Middle East.
The Israeli Government is now in the process of drafting
its detailed reply to the United States. However, I am pleased to say
that we have been informed by the Government of Israel of the cabinet
vote to accept the United States proposal, and I am gratified that now
all three governments to whom we addressed our initiative have responded
positively and accepted the U.S. proposal.
We do not underestimate the difficulties which still
lie ahead. The acceptance of the U.S. proposal by the governments principally
concerned, important as it is, is only a first step. It will require
moderation, flexibility, and a willingness by both sides to accept something
less than their maximum position if progress toward a just and lasting
peace between the parties is to be made. But the cease-fire and the
negotiations that now seem within reach are an essential beginning.
In this connection I want to reiterate one point, a
point that I made last night in my press conference. It is an integral
part of our cease-fire proposal that neither side is to use the cease-fire
period to improve its military position in the area of the cease-fire
lines. All would have to refrain from emplacing new missiles or other
installations and from undertaking a military buildup of any kind in
such an area.
For our part, we have been engaged since early 1969
in cooperative efforts with the Governments of the Soviet Union, Great
Britain, and France to help move the Middle East conflict toward a peaceful
settlement. We expect these efforts to continue. We firmly believe,
however, that the focus of future efforts must be on the parties directly
concerned under the auspices of Ambassador Jarring's mission. We wish
him and the parties well in their efforts, and we stand ready to help
whenever and wherever we can.
In that connection, in the same area, we have made
two appointments to ambassadorial positions today, two of our most distinguished
and able Ambassadors. To Jordan, Mr. Dean Brown, and to Saudi Arabia,
Mr. Nicholas Thacher.
I will say finally, that I believe that all of those
who have worked on this initiative within our own Government and particularly
those in the State Department, deserve a great deal of credit for the
progress that has been made.
As we have indicated, we still have a long way to go
before we achieve the results that we hope can be achieved. But in a
situation where a year and a half ago there seemed to be no hope, there
now appears some hope--some hope that a peaceful settlement can be arrived
at.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |