Bourguiba Considers His Call for Arab-israel Talks a Failure; Drops It

Habib Bourguiba, president of Tunisia, has dropped his campaign for a negotiated settlement of the “Palestine problem.” In an interview he gave in Tunis to a correspondent of The Observer here, he said: “My compromise plan has failed; neither the Arabs nor Israel want anything to do with it.”

“I don’t intend to take leadership of a movement to press for a settlement” of the Arab-Israeli issues, he told The Observer. He said he has “neither the inclination nor the means” for such a drive. The problem must be left to time.”

Mr. Bourguiba said, however, he remained convinced that his advice regarding Arab-Israeli peace proposals “will one day be accepted.” He stated that, in his view, the Arab-Israeli proposals he started voicing several months ago, “have already had an impact on the younger Arab generation.”

According to Mr. Bourguiba, Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser had approved his views on this subject when they met privately in Cairo before announcement of the Bourguiba proposals. “I put the matter very frankly to Nasser.” The Observer quoted the Tunisian President as saying. “I said that, if we could invoke all the United Nations resolutions–those dealing with partition as well as with the return of the refugees–this would be a compromise solution which would open the way to a peace settlement or, at least, to a less explosive situation than we have now. I added that we had neither the strength nor the will to fight.”

“Nasser replied he had said the same thing at the Bandung Conference of 1955, and the Afro-Asian countries welcomed his statement. What separates us, then? Is it that which separates an honest man from one who conceals his views?” Mr. Bourguiba asked.