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INBRIEF
BEHIND
SA~T'S
HISTORIC TRIP
by
Stanley R. Rader
T
okyo , November 22 ,
1977:
Here in Japan inter–
est was extremely high
concerning Anwar Sadat 's historie
visit to Jerusalem. All of the Japa–
nese television and radio stations,
as well as the newspapers, carried
extensiva accounts of the events
surrounding Mr. Sadat's journey.
Most of you,
1
am certain, were
also fixed to your television sets as
the miracle of satellite communi–
cation brought these unprece–
dented affairs into your living
rooms.
For our many Japanese friends,
and for me, it was especially re–
warding . Mr. Herbert
w:
Arm–
st r ong and
1
have together
brought many Japanese con–
gressmen for the first time to both
Egypt and Israel since the October
1973 war. and through our com–
bined efforts we have worked to
promote better understanding in
Japan of the problems of the
Middle East.
As a result,sorneof ourJapanese
congressmen friends became so
involved that severa! of them were
placed on the Arab black list for
what the Arab nations considerad
to be a pro-lsrael posítion. This was
not the case, and the congressmen
were subsequently removed from
the black list.
Only this past summer, in Au–
gust, the Ambassador lnter–
national Cultural Foundation
(AICF) sponsored yet another visit
by prominent members of the Jap–
anese Diet to Israel, as well asto
Yugoslavia and Poland. On these
various occasions we have man–
aged to br1ng
the
Japanese into
very close contact with all of the
leading officials of the Egyptian
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1978
and the Israelí governments, as we
have been found by our friends in
Egypt and Israel to be working al–
ways for world peace in a nonpo–
litical and nonpartisan manner.
Last month in this column
1
pre–
dicted that Mr. Begin would be the
man who could alone of all the
lsraelis on the scene today. be–
cause of his política! posture in
the past, make the kind of move,
including concessions, in order to
bring about peace in the Middle
East. lmmediately after the Octo–
ber 1973 war, Mr. Armstrong and
1
made sorne ten different trips into
Egypt, and we reported how very
much impressed we were with
President Sadat and what we
thought was a genuine desire on
his
part
to bring about an ami–
cable settlement
ot
all the issues
between his country and Israel.
Mr. Armstrong and
1
did what
we could on every subsequent trip
to Israel to advise our Israelí
friends
ot
what we thought was
the totally sincere commitment for
peace that President Sadat
evinced when he received us. We
delivered simi lar sentiments ot a
sincere desire for no further
bloodshed and for mutual cooper–
ation in the near future communi–
cated to us by others in the
Egyptian government, as well as
university and industrialleaders.
In other columns in the past this
writer has suggested that the
problems of the Middle East are
going to have to be solved by the
people of that region , and that a
settlement imposed upon ttlem
from tne outside-whether it be
imposed
by
the
United States uni–
lateraHy, by the U.S.S.R. unilater–
ally, or by the United States and
the U.S.S.R. working together–
will not produce a lasting peace.
1
have repeatedly said there were
men
of
good
will in aU of
the
coun–
tries
of
that region and that, be–
hind the scenes , they were
working for a real peace.
President Sadat's announce–
ment that he would go to Jerusa–
lem, and even speak to the
Knesset, his subsequent fulfill–
ment of that promise, his de tacto
recognition of the state of lsrael–
all of these things are dramatic,
but should not be construed as
mere artífice or showmanship or
political maneuvering . They
should, instead, be viewed as a
culmination of the determinad ef–
forts of Mr. Sadat and his closest
colleagues on the one hand, and
Mr. Begin, his colleagues and his
immediate predecessors on the
other hand. lt is clear that many
months of effort on the part of
many people were involved .
We have also seen more evi–
dence of the radical approach
being manifested by those in other
parts of the Arab world who do not
want peace or stability in the area.
But, again, those who are
con~
cerned more about mankind and
civilization as we know it today will
do everything they can to resist
and to otherwise thwart a further
radicalization of the area. lt is in–
conceivable to this writer that the
government of Saudi Arabia, for
example, will not give President
Sadat its blessing regardless of
wh.at public protestations may be
heard.
Within a few days
1
am planning
to return to Cairo and to Israel with
several members of the Japanese
Diet to gain further insight into the
events that will continua to unfold
between now and the time of the
Geneva Conference. In the mean- ·
time,
1
am sure that the hope ex–
tends around the world that this
initial , courageous first step on the
part of sorne very concerned
world leaders wtll becorne even–
tually a giant stride forward for
mankind.
o
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