Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan said on a BBC television interview last night that if Israeli-Egyptian peace talks are resumed, Israel would be ready to discuss the “immigration” of Palestinians from refugee camps in Lebanon to the West Bank. He said the “free movement” of West Bank Arabs into Israel was another topic he hoped would be discussed in Middle East peace negotiations.
Dayan did not elaborate but observers here believed he was suggesting a possible way to meet Arab demands that Israel recognize the “legitimate rights” of Palestinians, including refugees, to return to their country of origin. The Foreign Minister said additional topics on the negotiating agenda should be the future of the West Bank, the role of Israeli forces there and the status of Jewish settlements.
According to Dayan, it is not the presence of Israeli settlements that has stalled negotiations but the absence of Jordan from the negotiating table. “Let (King) Hussein come to negotiate his claim, he is welcome, “Dayan said. Asked whether he regarded the West Bank as liberated, disputed or occupied territory, he replied, “For me it is my homeland but I do not want to drive the Arabs from there.”He said that even if peace talks fail to materialize, he personally would favor abolition of the military government on the West Bank “to get closer to normality.”
Dayan’s interview was taped shortly after his meeting with Prime Minister James Callaghan yesterday afternoon. Asked to characterize that meeting, he said, “I cannot say we agreed but it was a very friendly talk.”
The British leaders with whom Dayan has met since his arrival here Sunday are believed to have encouraged his view that Israel and Egypt should concentrate on concrete issues of a settlement rather than the semantics of a joint declaration of principles. Dayan suggested such an approach in his talks with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Washington two weeks ago and claimed the Americans agreed.
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