Before Shimon Peres, chairman of Israel’s Labor Party, meets with President Carter at the White House Thursday, it is certain that Administration officials will have carefully studied an article by Peres in the current issue of the prestigious periodical, Foreign Affairs.
Titled, “A Strategy for Peace in the Middle East,” Peres argues that the issue of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip can be settled through step-by-step negotiations with Jordan.
Peres stresses that the Labor Party believes that “within the framework of a peace settlement we would be prepared to relinquish parts of the West Bank on the condition that they remain demilitarized; that no foreign army ever again cross the Jordan River and menace the gates of Jerusalem, as happened in 1948 and 1967; and that we gain defensible borders to deter a surprise attack on us, as happened in 1973.”
While stressing that if the Labor Party returns to office it would be bound to any international commitments made by the Likud government, Peres doubts that the autonomy for Palestinian Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza now being negotiated by Israel, Egypt and the United States will be realized.
He claims that if the version of autonomy proposed by Premier Menachem Begin is implemented, “Israel will change from being a Jewish State into a binational community.” If President Anwar Sadat’s version is implemented, it will mean a Palestinian state, Peres states, adding that such a state “will continually menace both the Jordanian kingdom and the security of Israel, and consequently the peace and stability of the whole area.”
PREFERS NEGOTIATIONS WITH JORDAN
Peres argues that instead of negotiating on autonomy, the Labor Party prefers negotiations with Jordan based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 which could also include the participation of West Bank Arabs. He believes these negotiations should be conducted on a step-by-step basis. “The prospects of King Hussein’s involvement in the negotiations are predicated on active encouragement by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt,” he adds.
The scenario proposed by Peres if there is no agreement on autonomy by May 26 is to first work out an autonomy agreement in Gaza. “If autonomy is realized in the Gaza Strip, it will enable Egypt to claim that the negotiations between itself and Israel have gone beyond the surely Egyptian-Israeli context, relating now to the solution of the Palestinian problem,” he notes.
POSSIBLE MODEL FOR AUTONOMY TALKS
Peres says if autonomy in Gaza is successful, it could then be used as a model for negotiating autonomy in Judaea and Samaria. But first Peres would have municipal elections held on the West Bank “tacitly coordinated with King Hussein.
Peres notes that this would lead to the third step, negotiating with Hussein which could be just between Israel and Jordan with the U.S. participating or could include Egypt and West Bank Palestinians. He says that parallel to this should be an understanding between the U.S., Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia so that Jordan would have Arab and Western support.
“I estimate today the conditions for such on understanding are better than ever before,” Peres concludes. “Jordan will not be the first Arab state to reach a peace agreement with Israel, since Egypt preceded it; nor will Jordan have to agree to a new base, for it can be done on the basis of Resolution 242. Egypt does not have the desire or capacity to represent the residents of Judaea, Samaria and Gaza, and it is most likely that Cairo would prefer that this be done by the King and not by (Yasir) Arafat (head of the Palestine Liberation Organization).”
In addition, Peres’ entire article is predicated on the basis that other moderate Arab leaders will follow Sodat’s example in making peace with Israel because of the threats to the Middle East today from religious fanaticism, as seen by the example of Iran, and Soviet expansionism.
The Peres meeting with Carter may show what, if any, support his ideas have in the Administration. But the Carter Administration is committed to seeking an autonomy agreement. Meanwhile, Begin said last week he had no objection to the Carter-Peres meeting “as long as everybody remembers that Peres is the leader of the opposition.”
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