JERUSALEM (Aug. 1)
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol expressed skepticism today over the idea of establishment of a Druze state in the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. In an interview with a Druze student on Kol Israel Radio, Mr. Eshkol said that a small people seeking a state of its own must create support for the idea. The Druze are an Islamic non-Arab sect whose 20,000 members in Israel have consistently supported the Jews. A Druze member has sat in the Knesset.
The Premier told the student that the question was whether those who proposed creation of such a state in the Golan Heights had considered the matter with care. Pointing out that the area was small and its population meager, Mr. Eshkol asked what resources such a state would have to live on.
