Professors Express Guarded Optimism About Camp David Peace Framework

University professors yesterday reacted with cautious optimism to the "framework for peace" reached at Camp David, citing the absence of written texts of the agreement.

"It's certainly an encouraging development," Guido G. Goldman '59, senior lecturer on Government, said, adding, "I hope it has given each party enough to sustain it to the point that we can have a signed peace."

Goldman said that the agreement will most probably be controversial, particularly among the Arab states. More controversy is sure to arise as negotations get underway for settlement of the different issues contained in the agreement, he added.

Samuel P. Huntington, Thomson Professor of Government, returning this year after serving as an assistant to national security adviser Zbignew Brzezinski, called the agreement "a tremendous achievement" for President Carter Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

He said there is a possibility problems will develop in the negotiations on the second part of the agreement, "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East" which includes provisions for phased Israeli military withdrawl from the West Bank and Gaza and the subsequent establishment of an autonomous Palestinian entity.

Huntington said the question of Palestinian self-rule will "pose many issues in terms of trying to construct either an embryonic national government or an entity which is a part of Jordan."

Here We Go Again

"My guess is that since they [the Palestinian Liberation Organization] reject it [the framework], they will refuse to participate in negotiations and will in all probability try to urge everyone else not to participate," Huntington said.

He added that the PLO's "policy of abstention" will place leaders in the Palestinian cities in a difficult position as they will probably label those who participate in the negotiations as "traitors."

Huntington also said that he would be "very surprised if there were not some violent reaction to the Camp David agreement.

He added that although Syria, Libya and the PLO have denounced the agreement, Saudi Arabia, the most important country in the Middle East and a proponent of Arab unity, will probably continue to support Sadat.

"I doubt they [the PLO] have the capacity to mount more than sporadic opposition," Michael Walzer, professor of Government, said yesterday. He added that the opposition would probably not have an effect on the outcome of the peace initiative, citing the lack of impact of the opposition to Sadat's trip to Jerusalem last November.

Walzer also said that he thinks the majority of the Knesset, though not necessarily a majority of Begin's party, will vote to withdraw the Israeli settlements in the Sinai.

Milton Katz, Stimson Professor of Law, said the nationally televised appearance of the three leaders raised the question in his mind of "whether the leaders contemplated an autonomous Palestinian state not connected with Jordan" because of Carter's inclusion of Jordan in his comments.

Stanley H. Hoffmann, professor of Government, said like his colleagues, that it was still too early to make any conclusions about the framework. "It will take months to see who has gotten the better of whom... who has won, who has lost," he said.

Richard N. Frye, Aga Khan Professor of Iranian, said yesterday, "It's pretty predictable that the Saudis, Iranis and Jordanians will welcome" the agreement, adding that Iraq and Syria will not.

Frye suggested that an agreement may have been reached on the supply of oil to Israel during telephone conversations between Carter, Sadat and the Shah of Iran.