Moshe Dayan, here on a speaking tour for the United Israel Appeal, told the JTA today that “the most important thing now in the Middle East is the fact that there are negotiations, and after four wars this is a change for the better in ending the state of belligerency.”
Dayan said that thanks to the energy of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, the big powers have decided to negotiate for peace. What is not so good, he said, “is the power, both economic and financial, of the Arabs with their tremendous influence upon other countries. But, because the Arabs are more powerful than ever, why should they go to war and lose it when they can solve the problems on a political basis?”
The former Defense Minister termed the Soviet Union’s role in the Middle East as “very dangerous because she continues to introduce sophisticated weapons into the area.” He also said that the general reaction to the Arab countries’ efforts to suspend Israel at the United Nations was negative. “I think Kissinger’s mission will be a success because he has declared that unless there is a 90 percent certainty that the negotiations would succeed he would not have gone to the Middle East.”
Dayan stated that only the government of Jordan should represent the interests of the Palestinians and not Arafat who is asking for a Palestinian state instead of Israel. He was not worried so much about the attitude of diaspora Jewry as the fact that so many Israeli citizens are leaving Israel for overseas.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
