American Press Welcomes Israeli Offer for Direct Peace Talks with Arab States

The Israel Governments repeated overtures to engage in direct peace negotiations with the Arabs are welcomed as “heartening good news” by a majority of the American press commenting on the Palestine situation, according to a report of the Twohey Analysis of Newspaper Opinion of Washington, D.C., made public by the Zionist Organization of America today.

While some of the papers warned that the “situation is still tense” and the negotiations, if held, may not produce a permanent settlement, they expressed relief that Transjordan seemed to be thinking “in terms of conversation, not battles,” the Twohey report says.

The New York Herald Tribune, in an editorial today, says that “any Palestine settlement must be based on recognition of the existence of the Israeli state,” Expressing the belief that Israel will concentrate its efforts upon securing a settlement with Transjordan, the article says: “Such a settlement would be made much easier if Israel were given international recognition in the form of admission to the United Nations. The government of Israel does, in fact, exist and has shown itself capable of exercising authority within the territory it controls. It has done nothing which should bar it from the family of nations. A decision by the Security Council to admit it would facilitate the peace-making task the U.N. has taken upon itself in Palestine.’

The New York Post, in an article by its editor T.O. Thackrey, welcomes the news that Peter Bergson and the four other arrested Irgun leaders may be released by the Israeli authorities on Friday. “If complete amnesty accompanies the freedom, great strides will have been taken to solidify the fighting heart of Israel for the great struggle for freedom of the nation itself, calling for the most selfless sacrifices,” the article says.