JTA Exclusive Interview Mrs. Chisholm Now Favors Direct Mideast Talks; Says Going to Israel ‘to See

Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D.N.Y.) scorns the Gary resolution on Israel as “ridiculous.” wants the Soviet Union and the United States to cease sending arms to the Middle East, and recommends direct Israeli-Arab negotiations as the only way to settle the conflict. Above all, the only Black woman member of the House of Representatives continues to insist that “Palestine” is the “root cause” of the conflict and that resolving it is essential for “peace and harmony” in the region.

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mrs. Chisholm declined comment on the strongly pro-Israel plank in the Democratic Party’s Middle East platform, specifically the provision that the US recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying that she had not “had a chance to go over the entire platform.” But in what may be a major development in her Mideast outlook–possibly significant in that she will be campaigning for the Presidential candidate she sought to deter in the primaries–Mrs. Chisholm said she was accepting an Israeli government invitation to visit Israel before year’s end to “see things there for myself.”

During her Presidential campaign, the fiery former nursery school teacher based her Mideast views on a position paper calling for a United Nations “guarantee” of the “stability and territorial integrity” of all States; a “limitation on all arms shipments” to the area; US economic aid to the region’s “less-developed nations”; “full representation for the Palestinians in all negotiations concerning the return or compensation for Palestinian Arab property,” and “immediate consideration of the problem of the lack of status of the several hundred thousand people who left Israeli held territory in 1948 and 1967.”

In that position paper Mrs. Chisholm said the US had “allowed the Soviet Union to posture as the real friend of the poor is the Middle East,” adding: “While courageous governments in Libya, Egypt and the Sudan, for example, struggle to maintain their freedom and independence from Soviet influence, we have been sidetracked into forgetting about the Palestine problem and simply engaging in endless maneuvering with the Soviet Union.”

At the Democratic Platform Committee hearings here, Mrs. Chisholm was asked why she had not repudiated the since-modified anti-Israel resolution of the National Black Political Convention. Mrs. Chisholm repudiated the statement of the Congressional Black Caucus lauding Israeli contributions to Black Africa, saying she had not been consulted on the statement, issued after the Gary, Ind., convention and before the steering committee’s modification of the resolution.

Thus, Mrs. Chisholm now appears to have swung towards a major platform premise–direct negotiations–which her position paper did not set forth, and has come out against the Gary resolution. Asked specifically if she believes Israel should be a “free, independent Jewish State,” she replied: “There’s never been any doubt in my mind about that.” adding: “Mrs. Chisholm has always believed in a Jewish State and has been identified very closely with the Jewish people because she believes in humanity whether it’s White, Black or Pink. I have no time for racial hatred or bigotry, be it in the form of white hatred or Black hatred, because all hatred destroys the human individual.”

On Soviet Jewry, Mrs. Chisholm commented: “Since the Soviet government has indicated a negative policy towards the Jewish people it should let the Jews emigrate to Israel. The Soviet attitude does not put the Jewish people on the same basis as the Russian people. Since the Jewish people have a homeland, they should be allowed to go to Israel. If a person doesn’t desire to have you and there is a possibility to go where you are accepted, why hold onto that individual? It’s as simple as that.”