Two Israeli cabinet ministers had words last night that should be comforting to King Hussein of Jordan. Deputy Premier Yigal Allon said that Hussein’s regime, once considered the shakiest in the Arab world, is now the most stable. Transport Minister Shimon Peres, who has been sounding out West Bank Arab leaders recently, dismissed the idea of an autonomous “Palestinian entity” as “unrealistic.” Mr. Allon addressed the Engineers Club here. He said the stable conditions in Jordan resulted from the breaking up of terrorist organizations in that country and the upheavals that recently occurred in Syria and Iraq. He described King Hussein as one of the central figures in the Arab world and said that he was ready to continue the cease-fire and, in fact, was responsible for the quiet conditions that now prevail along the Israel-Jordan border.
Mr. Allon made no mention of reports that he met secretly with King Hussein on several occasions, most recently during the latter part of October. Those reports, published by Time magazine this week, were vigorously denied here and in Amman but are widely accepted as being true. Mr. Peres spoke at the jubilee conference of Wizo, the Women’s International Zionist Organization, in Tel Aviv. He said that a new kind of relationship has emerged between Jews and Arabs for the first time in history in the occupied territories. He said that time should be the prime factor in resolving the seemingly insoluble Arab-Israel conflict. The approach to peace, Mr. Peres added, should be gradual, allowing each country to attain that which it considers most important. For Israel, he said, it would unhindered navigation through the Straits of Tiran and for Egypt, the resumption of normal life along the Suez Canal.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
