Costa Rican Foreign Minister Gonzalo Facio said yesterday during a visit to Nazareth that Israel is fully justified in exercising its basic right to stand fast on the ceasefire lines in order to ensure self-defense. He said that while visiting Sharm El Sheikh, which overlooks the mouth of the Red Sea. “I realized how important the site is for Israel as the gateway to the Gulf of Eilath.” Facio has been in Israel since last Tuesday. At a dinner given in his honor last week by Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, Facio said that the American doctrine herring the acquisition of rights to territory through conquest does not apply to Israel. He explained that the doctrine applies only to aggressors, whereas in 1967, Israel had been attacked and was fighting for its life in its own land. He added that in the future, the doctrine will be applicable to Israel after she has acquired through direct negotiations with its Arab neighbors the secure peace borders to which it is entitled.
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