Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 22, 1991 TAG: 9104220111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short
The Bush administration is sending confusing signals on the Middle East, and those signals threaten the one country in that part of the world that we should be standing beside, Cuomo said at forum sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater.
Israel is "a democratic miracle of a place" that always has relied on U.S. support, and continued backing of Israel is a moral imperative, he said.
But the administration has made "uncomfortable accommodations" with Israel's enemies, such as Syria, in the search for a peaceful settlement following the successful war against Iraq, Cuomo said.
Any lasting peace in the region will require Syria and Israel's other Arab neighbors to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and its right to adequate land to keep its borders secure, he said.
Cuomo also opposed any reduction in U.S. foreign aid to Israel.
Cuomo, a Democrat who has stayed out of 1992 presidential politics while trying to shore up his state's battered finances, limited his address to Israel and the Middle East.
But in answering questions from the audience of about 500 people, he said public education in the United States is in serious trouble and needs vast changes.
by CNB