Soviets May Join U.S. Defense of Zionism

The Soviet Union appears to be prepared to co-sponsor a new U.S. attempt to overturn a 1975 U.N. resolution that equated Zionism with racism, senior Bush Administration officials said Sunday.

The move, while mostly symbolic in its impact, would be a conspicuous example of U.S.-Soviet diplomatic cooperation and a major step toward resumption of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Israel.

It also would better position Moscow to insist that the Soviet Union be a major participant in any Middle East peace conference that may emerge as a result of the new peacemaking initiative recently launched by Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

Moscow had sought such status before but was discouraged by the United States on grounds that it did not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev recently has expressed strong interest in resuming relations with Israel.

Soviet co-sponsorship of the new U.S. move was hinted at by Vice President Dan Quayle, who disclosed U.S. efforts in a Sunday night address at Yeshiva University in New York.

“We have already raised this issue privately with the Soviet Union, but the time has now come to discuss this question publicly,” Quayle announced. Then he added, “I call on the Soviet Union . . . to join us in co-sponsoring” the move to overturn the 1975 resolution.

There was no response from Moscow on Sunday to Quayle’s overture. But White House officials said U.S. diplomats have approached Moscow anew about the 1975 resolution and that Soviets “have expressed a willingness” to consider co-sponsoring a move to rescind it.

Soviet co-sponsorship would mark a dramatic reversal for Moscow. In November, 1975, the Soviet Union supported the original resolution--proffered by Arab and Third World countries--to equate Zionism with racism. Zionism was the movement for a homeland for the Jews that led to the establishment of the state of Israel. The United States was unable to block the resolution then.

U.S. officials said separately that some Arab countries also have indicated they may not oppose a new U.S.-Soviet attempt--another turnabout from 1975. Quayle said Sunday that Arab willingness to rescind the 1975 resolution “would send a powerful signal” to Israel.

Although adoption of the 1975 resolution has not affected Israel’s legal status in the United Nations--or the hold it has maintained on its West Bank territories--the charge has been an irritant both to Israel and to American Jews.

If the new U.S. plan remains intact, it would mark the second time in a few days that both the Soviets and the Arabs have shown a willingness to cooperate with Washington on policies involving Israel.

On Dec. 4, the Arabs agreed to shelve a plan to change the U.N. standing of the Palestine Liberation Organization to that of an “observer state” instead of just an “observer mission”--a move that would have strengthened its claim to represent Palestinians.

The decision was made under heavy pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, which had privately advised the Arabs against pushing the move. Washington threatened to cut off U.S. financial support for the United Nations if the plan succeeded.

Quayle is planning to visit U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar today to present him a check for $65 million in back dues owed by the United States, further underscoring the U.S. position on the issue.

The vice president Sunday also reiterated a longstanding U.S. threat to pull out of the United Nations if Israel is ever expelled from the international institution, as sponsors of the 1975 effort had planned. “This remains our policy today: If Israel goes, we go,” he said.

Senior officials said Quayle originally had intended to deliver a more hard-line address but softened its tone after the dispute over the PLO’s status was resolved. They said his remarks had the full approval of Bush’s top advisers.

U.S. officials said Washington had hoped to overturn the Zionism-is-racism resolution in earlier years, but felt there would be little chance of success without at least tacit support from the East Bloc countries and some Arab governments as well.

Quayle said Sunday that rescinding the 1975 resolution would pave the way for peace in the Middle East “by focusing on the real issues in dispute” rather than on whether Israel has a right to exist.

“An impossible dream, you say?” he asked. “Perhaps. But so, until quite recently, was the opening of the Berlin Wall” and “the prospect of free elections in Poland and Hungary.” Why not “one impossible dream more?” he asked.

Times staff writer Don Shannon, in Washington, contributed to this story.