The United States put the blame for failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 1975 squarely at the feet of Israel, new documents released by WikiLeaks revealed.
A cable dated Jan. 9, 1975, from the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia to U.S. authorities, including Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, referred to the stubbornness of Israel as the holdup in peace talks, The Jerusalem Post reported.
“Nevertheless, viewed from here, the Israeli pessimism seems largely if not entirely unwarranted,” the cable read. “It seems based on an extraordinary lack of understanding of what happened in the Arab world in the last year and a half. Rather than girding their loins for the fifth, sixth, seventh Israeli-Arab wars [the] Israelis might examine more carefully than they seem to have done so far the alternative of a peaceful accommodation with the Arabs.”
The U.S. also criticized Israel’s attitude, post-Yom Kippur War.
“It seems to be based on the axiom that Israel cannot be expected to relinquish any more of the Arab lands it conquered in 1967 without Arab guarantees of security for Israel,” the cable read, as The Jerusalem Post reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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