— Former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan said today that he saw no conflict between continuing efforts to resolve the Israeli-Arab dispute and the formation of regional strategic defenses against Soviet interventionism in the Middle East which is the larger American concern.
Dayan, who announced yesterday that he will run in the June 30 Knesset elections at the head of a new political party called Telem (Movement for National Renewal), also stressed that Israel would play its role in regional defense with or without a mutual defense treaty with the U.S.
Appearing live from Tel Aviv on the ABC-TV “Issues and Answers” program, Dayan said in reply to questions that he did not think it would be too complicated to coordinate the different local countries together with Israel to meet the Soviet threat while seeking a solution to Arab-Israeli issues, the largest of which is the Palestinian problem.
“We shall play our role” in the event that the Soviets attempt to expand in the region “by itself or through someone else. Israel will fight for its independence with our forces,” he said.
Dayan said, however, that he considered the Reagan Administration’s intention to provide sophisticated weaponry to Saudi Arabia to be a “wrong step. I personally am totally against it,” he said. “They (the Saudis) don’t need it and can’t use it. “He said he was concerned that the Saudis might provide the equipment to a third party to attack Israel instead of using it to defend themselves against the Russians. He said the same applied to the supply of sophisticated weapons to Saudi Arabia by West Germany.
FAVORS U.S. PRESENCE IN MIDEAST
Dayan said he favored an American presence in the Middle East and that any Israeli government would provide facilities. But he was not in a position to say what form the American presence should take because he was “not acquainted” with that aspect.
However, he strongly supported American participation in the multi-national peacekeeping force to police Sinai after Israel withdraws in April, 1982. He also thought the force should have aircraft at its disposal and utilize the Israeli-built air bases at Etzion and Eitam.
“We’d like the air bases used by the Americans. Who else can use them in an efficient way? It is not against Egyptian or Israeli interests, ” Dayan said. He said Israel favored a multinational force of about 4000 men, half of which would be supplied by the U.S. and the rest by other countries. He mentioned Canada, Australia and New Zealand in that connection.
He said, in reply to a question, that if agreement is not reached on a multi-national force by next year’s deadline, he would recommend that Israel not withdraw from Sinai. “We must have a force to rely on, not just undertakings by Egypt,” he said.
Asked it this could precipitate a crisis with Egypt, Dayan said he did not think it would come to that. Because of Israel’s position, he predicted that the Egyptians would reach an agreement on the multi-national force even if they were not happy with all of its aspects.
He said that the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty had lived up to his expectations, adding that he hadn’t “expected too much…that we’d be kissing each other twice a day.” But, he observed, “There is diplomatic relations, free traffic…I don’t think even after (Israel’s)withdrawal is completed and if (Anwar) Sadat is replaced by another President, I don’t think the peace treaty will be shaky. It will hold. It is a firm treaty.”
EXPLAINS HIS PARTY’S POSITIONS
Asked why he has returned to politics after saying, when he resigned as Foreign Minister in October, 1979, that he would not seek another term in the Knesset, Dayan said he was motivated mainly by the need to resolve the Palestinian issue.
He said two major planks in his new party’s plat-form were “to implement autonomy for the Arabs without agreement, right away, which the present government won’t do, and not to allow the Labor Party to withdraw from some parts of the West Bank without a peace treaty. ” That would be ” a bad mistake, “he said.
He said he was aware that the Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza Strip “want much more. They want total withdrawal and a Palestinian state. But not able to achieve this, they would like very much that we let them control their own life in their own villages.” He said implementation of autonomy meant withdrawal of the military administration from the territories but not Israeli military forces.
Dayan also insisted that Israel has the right to keep its settlements on the West Bank “for good, forever and ever,” to expand existing settlements and build new ones. “I don’t think this is a major obstacle or a minor obstacle” to peace with the Arabs. “They realize we have to live together, as in Jerusalem. We are not after replacing them or driving them away,” Dayan said.
ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
Dayan said he did not agree with Secretary of State Alexander Haig’s position that the Soviet Union is behind all international terrorist movements. “I’m not sure Soviet Russia is directly responsible, though the Palestine Liberation Organization is being trained in Soviet Russia,” he said. He said he thought the U.S. should define terrorism and “try to stop it–not let some get away–totally forbid it.”
In that connection he observed that Lebanon would never resolve its problems as long as armed terrorists are allowed to room freely there. With respect to Syria’s presence, he said “I don’t think we should try to take over Lebanon to push Syria back. But as long as Syria is in Lebanon, Lebanon will not have independence.”
Asked how he thought the attempted assassination of President Reagan on March 30 could have been prevented, Dayan indicated that the U.S. should have tighter gun laws. “I think you have too many nuts, too much free arms. You allow everybody to have guns, sometimes 5-6 guns, like cow-
boys. You should forbid carrying arms except by special license,” Dayan said.
Asked if he was satisfied with the Reagan Administration’s relations with Israel, Dayan said it was “too early” to judge but except for the issue of arms to Saudi Arabia “we have no complaint”. He added that he did not sense any diminution of support for Israel in the U.S.
Dayan appeared on “Issues and Answers” shortly after Haig’s arrival in Jerusalem. He told the interviewer that he had an appointment with the Secretary of State directly after the broadcast but declined to say what issues he might raise with him. “It will be a private and personal conversation, ” Dayan said.
In another television interview today, Jeane Kirkpatrick, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that U.S. policy in Lebanon is based on. “fairness to everybody. ” She said the U.S. wants to try to bring about an end to the “tragic circle of violence. ” To do that, the United States will work with other interested parties to “cool it and restore peace to the area, ” she said.
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.
