Shultz Says Support of Israel Is ‘Unshakable’ : Secretary Plays Down U.N. Vote Condemning Plans for Deportations and Hails Friendship

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Thursday that U.S. support for Israel is “unshakable,” despite a month of sometimes acrimonious Washington-Jersualem friction over the use of live ammunition against Palestinian demonstrators and Israel’s plan to deport Arab activists.

“I think it’s important for everyone to understand that the United States regards its friendship . . . with Israel as a key and unshakable relationship,” Shultz said.

U.N. Council Action

“No one should misinterpret a vote as meaning anything else,” he added, in reference to the U.S. support for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli plans to expel nine Palestinians accused of leading the riots, which have swept through the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since Dec. 9. The Tuesday vote was decried by Israel and hailed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Nevertheless, Shultz repeated the U.S. assertion that Israeli forces can maintain law and order in the predominantly Arab occupied territories “without the use of lethal means.” At least 25 Palestinian demonstrators and bystanders have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the last month.

When a reporter asked at a press conference if the United States will give unqualified backing to the Israelis, “whatever they might do,” Shultz said: “Israel is a democratic country seeking stability and peace and the ability to pursue its destiny. And we support that country. And we support those objectives.”

Shortly after the press conference, Shultz met for about 45 minutes with Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad. The envoy said after the meeting that he had come to express Israeli “disappointment and regret” over the U.S. vote in the Security Council but that Shultz’s comments alleviated much of the concern over the situation.

“I think that the secretary’s comments have contributed fairly significantly to an understanding that the friendship between the United States and Israel is as sound and as strong as ever, in spite of the differences we might have. . . ,” Arad told reporters.

On other topics at the press conference, Shultz:

-- Hinted that the United States eventually may consider a Soviet plan for a U.N. force to police the Persian Gulf but said that the United Nations should impose an arms embargo against Iran before considering the use of military force.

-- Said that the Reagan Administration will seek additional military assistance for Nicaragua’s rebels even if the Managua government makes a few gestures in the direction of complying with the Central American presidents’ peace plan signed last year. Overall, he said, Nicaragua has “a long way to go” before it will be in compliance with the plan signed last August in Guatemala City.

-- Endorsed the criticism of Haiti’s coming election that was issued earlier in the day by the heads of state from seven Caribbean nations but ruled out U.S. sanctions against the impoverished island nation because that would “punish the people of Haiti” instead of the junta led by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy.

-- Said he expects to meet Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze in Moscow sometime next month to begin planning for a summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev scheduled for next May or June. He said he and Shevardnadze plan “more or less monthly meetings alternating between the two capitals” to work on arms control and other issues expected to come up at the summit.

Softens Earlier Position

Shultz softened his earlier opposition to a Soviet proposal for a U.N. naval force to intervene in the Iran-Iraq War, although he said the arms embargo plan--which Washington has advocated since last July--is far more promising.

“If you are going to have a military force to enforce the embargo, of course, that’s a very complicated thing. It involves land borders as well as supplies by sea,” Shultz said.

“One could consider that, but it’s quite an undertaking,” he said. “So I think the first step is to get the resolution (imposing an arms embargo on Iran) and call upon countries to observe it. . . . There may be some limited U.N. role in a blockade.”

Contra Aid Still Planned

Shultz would not repeat his earlier statement that Reagan will seek $270 million in additional aid to the Nicaraguan Contras but said the White House will submit some sort of aid request to Congress.

When asked if the Administration would go ahead with the aid plan if Nicaragua’s Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo succeeded in mediating a cease-fire agreement between the Contras and the Sandinista government, Shultz replied, “If all of the conditions of the Guatemala City plan were fully agreed to, that changes the entire situation.”

That, however, is unlikely, he added. “So far as we can see in Nicaragua, that’s a long way from being so.”