Premier Shimon Peres disclosed Tuesday that Israel made efforts to engage in dialogue with Syria on either limited or comprehensive issues but was rebuffed by Damascus on both levels.
His remarks were contained in extracts from a radio interview that will be broadcast in full Wednesday on the occasion of Israel’s Independence Day. He said: “We made an effort — not directly — to arrive at dialogue with the Syrians at one of two levels: At the local, limited level, meaning the Golan Heights and Lebanon, and at the higher level of, perhaps, comprehensive negotiations.” But, he said, “regarding comprehensive negotiations, we immediately received a negative response. On negotiations to be limited regarding place and scope, there was initially something of a hearing, but afterwards we also received a negative response from the Syrians.”
His remarks were the first revelation that Israel had approached Syria with an offer of talks. In extracts from the same interview released last Friday, the Premier affirmed that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria and it does not believe the Syrians will attack Israel, though a constant alert is maintained on the northern borders.
ISRAEL’S RELATIONS WITH JORDAN
Peres also clarified the status of Israel’s relations with Jordan. “In the first place, the understandings with Jordan are known and open to everyone. We told the Jordanians, first, that we are ready to conduct negotiations with a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. That is an understanding. Of the five names they proposed (of possible Palestinian delegates) we agreed to two,” Peres said.
“Second, the Jordanians insisted on an international forum. We agreed. Third, they insisted that it be based on (UN Security Council resolutions) 242 and 338. We agreed. These are far from negligible understandings. I can say, fourth, that in practice both they and we agree that the Americans will be the implementers in the attempt to generate dialogue,” Peres said.
“The final thing — and I don’t say this is an understanding between us, but this is an understanding of Jordan — is that Jordan is the first Arab state that tried seriously to integrate (Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir) Arafat into negotiations, and reached a conclusion, which became public, that this gentleman is not a partner for negotiations.”
Peres was referring to King Hussein’s announcement last February that he had ended his year-long efforts with Arafat because the PLO leadership is unreliable.
ISSUE OF AUTONOMY IN THE GAZA STRIP
Responding to questions about his reported proposal to introduce Palestinian autonomy on the local level in the Gaza Strip, Peres said, “I’m not proposing anything. I think proposals should come from the Arab side. Every proposal that originates with us will immediately arouse overall Arab opposition.”
With respect to autonomy, he said: “In this case, the initiative has to come from the Arab side. The Arabs know that this (Israeli) government, like earlier governments, is ready to discuss self-rule in the territories. This is an option which we constantly raise. We will not impose it, we will not implement it by force. But if the Palestinians awake from their slumber — or more correctly, their nightmare — and are ready to discuss this regarding Gaza and Judaea-Samaria (West Bank), we shall willingly discuss it.”
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.
