Former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan expressed a highly optimistic view of the Middle East situation in an address to the Haifa Maritime and Economic Club. He said chances for peace with the Arabs on terms advantageous to Israel were better than ever before. According to Dayan, no serious world body is now advocating the establishment of a separate Palestinian state, the U.S. is not pressing for Israeli concessions, Egypt is not planning a new war and the Soviet call for a Palestinian state is only a tactical maneuver.
Dayan said he thought recent developments in Jordan proved that King Hussein never intended to relinquish his influence and role on the West Bank despite the 1974 Rabat summit decision. He said Hussein hates the PLO now even more than during September 1970 when he ordered his army to drive the PLO out of Jordan. Dayan said that Israel should seek ways to advance the co-existence pattern on the West Bank and urged that Jews be permitted to purchase land there.
Former Information Minister Aharon Yariv told the same group that Israel should initiate an overall peace plan including final borders. This may not solve our problems but it may improve our political position in the world, Yariv said. Former Minister Dov Yosef, who was Governor of Jerusalem during the 1948 War for Independence, said Israel must make concessions in Judaea and Samaria but never compromise over Jerusalem. Communist MK Meir Wilner said the only road to peace was through the Geneva conference with the participation of the PLO.
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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.
