CONGRESSMEN VISIT ISRAEL AND EGYPT THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1971 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, The subcommittee met at 2 p.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lee H. Hamilton (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. HAMILTON. The subcommittee will come to order. This is the first meeting of the Subcommittee on the Near East this year, and we are happy to have five of our colleagues here to talk about their recent trips to the Near East. Four of these Congressmen have been to Israel where they spoke with leaders and citizens representing a broad spectrum of viewpoints, and they have traveled throughout Israel and certain parts of the occupied territories. They are here to make brief statements and have us then ask questions concerning their observations on their trips. Congressmen Bingham, Wolff, and Halpern are members of the subcommittee, and they will be joined by Congresman Rosenthal of the full committee. We are also happy to have with us Congressman Long, who recently visited Egypt, and is one of the first of our colleagues to talk to President Sadat. Congressman Bingham, you may proceed as you wish. Mr. FULTON. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the minority, we unanimously welcome and are pleased to be able to have the benefit of the advice of these Congressmen who have given their time and made inspection trips so we could have firsthand knowledge for our congressional colleagues. Mr. HAMILTON. Thank you, Mr. Fulton. STATEMENT OF HON. JONATHAN B. BINGHAM, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my observations are based on a trip that was made in the last week of February of this year. To that extent, they may not be entirely up to date, but I will try to make them as relevant as I can. POSSIBLE PARTIAL SETTLEMENT First of all, on the question of the possible partial settlement, I don't have anything particular to add to what was said, I thought very effectively, by Mr. Sisco the other day in the full committee. I did, during my visit there, and in the course of conversations with Foreign Minister Eban, Minister Shimon Peres, and others, get a very definite impression that a partial settlement was very much in the Israeli mind at this point. I so reported to the State Department when I got back, and I was very gratified by the turn of events that led to the United States concentrating on a partial settlement, which I think is much more feasible at this point than a final settlement. As far as a final settlement is concerned, I think that the Israelis are very practical and will make concessions on the symbolic front, going quite a long way in that regard, and being concerned with substance rather than appearances. For example, I got the impression that, while they are insistent on having control of Sharm al-Shaykh, they might be willing to make some kind of an arrangement that would recognize nominal Egyptian sovereignty there, with the Israelis to have a lease or something of that sort. Similarly, I think at some point an arrangement might very well be feasible that would give the Jordanians sovereignty over a limited segment of Jerusalem, with flags and a palace for the king, somewhat similar, we might say, to the Vatican enclave in Rome. Such an enclave would comprise the Muslim most Holy Places but would not have any strategic or military significance whatever. Similarly, in a settlement, arrangements might be made to give to a future Palestinian-Jordanian state, access to Gaza by means of a corridor or right-of-way. There might even be flags along such a corridor, or some other indication of nominal sovereignty, again recognizing the symbolism, without in any way jeopardizing the defense posture that the Israelis feel is necessary for their security. EGYPT AND A SETTLEMENT Just a brief word on Cairo in this regard. I was only there briefly and I did not get a chance to talk to any Egyptian officials. I talked to the American representatives there and to some Egyptians I have known in the past who are not now in the Government, and I spent some time at the American University in Cairo. My feeling is that the atmosphere in Cairo is one of great relief that the shooting has stopped. It is an atmosphere of peace. I think the Egyptian people don't want a renewal of the war. I find it hard to believe that the issues involved in big pieces of empty territory in the Sinai are ever going to mean terribly much to the Egyptian people. That land is not populated, and it doesn't present the difficult problem of irredentism such as would be the case if the area were inhabited by Egyptians. My feeling is that the average Egyptian couldn't care less about the Gulf of Aqaba or Sharm al-Shaykh. These are not really part of Egypt. The belligerent attitude is more a matter of the politics of the situation at a high level than a feeling on the part of the Egyptian people that runs very deep. Similarly, I think quite clearly Egypt is not interested in holding on to Gaza. They have as much as said that. Gaza was a headache to them, and I don't think Gaza will be any problem as far as settlement with ! Egypt is concerned. JORDAN AND A SETTLEMENT Looking for a moment at the chances of a settlement between Jordan and Israel, I think if there could be a settlement of Israel's major problems with Egypt it would be quite possible for Jordan and Israel to work out their problems, although there are many difficulties. Even today, relations between Israel and Hussein are surprisingly good, considering the circumstances. In fact, one criticism I might have of Israel's policy today is that it seems to be too dependent on Hussein's survival. I doubt if the Israelis have any very clear idea of what they would do if Hussein were to be assassinated or replaced. I believe the Israelis were ready to intervene when it seemed that Hussein was in danger in 1970, but this would have been a very risky business. However, as long as Hussein is in control-and he seems to be in better control than ever before--I don't think there is any real danger of hostilities breaking out again. The prospects of a good relationship between Israel and a neighboring state, whether it be a Palestinian state or a joint Jordanian-Palestinian state, are going to be very much affected and are being affected day by day to a very considerable extent by what is now happening on the ground. By that I mean what the Israelis are doing in Gaza and what they are doing in Jerusalem and what they are doing on the West Bank. CHANGES SINCE 1967 Now, I haven't been in the area since before the 6-Day War, but I understand that, as late as 1969, there were still a lot of Israeli troops in evidence in the occupied parts of what was formerly Jordan. Today this is not so. You never see any Israeli troops, at least in the parts of the West Bank I visited, and I visited Bethlehem, Jericho, and Ramallah. I am told the same thing is true in Nablus and Hebron. In East Jerusalem and on the West Bank, you see an occasional Arab policeman, but the atmosphere is incredibly calm. The terrorism has practically diminished to nothing, and it is quite clear that the inhabitants of those areas are getting along remarkably well with the Israelis and vice versa. This is a result of intelligent administration and of economics. Many Arabs have got good jobs. The Israelis need labor, particularly in the construction industry, and many of the West Bank Arabs are happily working for them at two and three times the wages they ever made before, when their part of the world was part of Jordan. The borders between the parts of Jerusalem and between Israel and the West Bank are, of course, wide open, and you don't even know when you are crossing them. There are no checkpoints. Some roads are closed, I understand, at certain hours of the night, but security measures are at a minimum. 75-297-72-2 I was especially impressed by this because of what I had seen in China in the late 1930's when Japan was occupying a good part of China. The Japanese had a manned sandbag post on practically every street corner, and the sentries were obviously nervous. By contrast, the atmosphere on the West Bank, is remarkably relaxed. By the way, the Arabs on the West Bank include-according to the 1970 State Department figures-almost 270,000 registered refugees. Many thousands of these Arabs are, as I say, profitably employed and getting along fine with the Jews. GAZA Turning to Gaza, I was surprised that we were permitted to visit there because terrorism does continue in Gaza. The visit was arranged by General Shlomo Gazit who is in command of all of the administered territories including Gaza. He is a most impressive man indeed. We had met with him at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, and he had told us some of the things being done in Gaza. My wife was with me, and I asked if we could visit, and he said certainly; no problem. We rented a car for the trip-our Foreign Office driver didn't care to drive us and drove down from Jerusalem with our Foreign Office escort officer. We were met at the border and escorted by jeeps fore and aft. I felt this was an unnecessary precaution, and it made me rather uncomfortable, because it seemed to make us more of a target than we would have been otherwise. But the Israelis insisted. What we saw in Gaza was extremely impressive. The Israelis operate in their typical fashion, with very little fanfare. By the way, very little of this has been publicized and it has deliberately been played down by the Israelis. They have been busy as bees developing the economy of Gaza and providing employment. They have, for one thing, made electric power available. Gaza before had a small powerplant that was very unreliable and locally based. The Israelis put in a power line which is sufficient to provide power for all kinds of activities, some of which I will mention. WORKING TOGETHER There are two large orange packing plants, one owned and operated by an Arab and the other by an Israeli, which are providing modern sorting methods, cleaning and waxing for the Gaza oranges, and the Gaza oranges are among the finest in the world. The employees are Arab. The Israelis have also put up, as of the time I was there, two long buildings, each composed of perhaps 10 or 12 barewall shops for manufacturing. These were brand new and only three were in operation at the time I was there, but by now I imagine all of them are functioning. The idea is that Israeli entrepreneurs will come in and put in their machinery and do manufacturing operations there. The one we saw in operation was a shop making embroidered blouses in the typical Arab fashion. |