Carter Urges Israel Openness to Peace Mood

Jimmy Carter urged Israeli leaders today to respond with flexibility and generosity to what the former U.S. President called a new receptive mood in the Arab world.

He said Syrian President Hafez Assad told him this week “he would be very glad to talk directly to Israel under the umbrella of an international conference.”

“I think this is a good indication that even Arab leaders who in the past have pledged their eternal hatred of Israel and total rejection of Israel are now in a much more receptive mood,” Carter told reporters during a tour of a kibbutz.

“My hope is that the Israeli leaders will respond accordingly with a degree of flexibility and generosity and that the peace talks can be recommenced,” he said.

Pollard Case Mentioned

Carter also mentioned the Jonathan Jay Pollard spy case and the furor in America over secret U.S. arms sales to Iran, which involved Israel, saying:

“There is a relationship between the United States and Israel that far transcends diplomacy and Presidents and Congress.

“It remains a tie between the American people and the people of Israel. This relationship cannot be shaken or broken by matters of even the most serious (nature).”

Carter’s statements came during a tour of this communal farm in the southern Negev Desert, where Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion lived the last years of his life and is buried. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were greeted by children waving Israeli and American flags.

Mideast an ‘Obsession’

Carter has acknowledged that the Middle East conflict was an “obsession” during his years in the presidency. On his five-nation tour, he has tried to boost peace efforts which have been stymied since he brokered the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Israel and the Arab countries disagree on how to proceed toward peace negotiations.