Foreign Minister Abba Eban left this morning on a four-day visit to Austria. He said that in his discussions with Austrian officials he would raise the matter of compensation for Austrian Jews who suffered material losses under the Nazi regime. He noted that a solution to this problem was long overdue despite representations made by Austrian Jews and Jewish organizations throughout the world; Eban said that while in Vienna he would also raise the question of terrorism in light of Austria’s recent release of three suspected Arab terrorists found to be carrying forged Israeli passports.
Addressing the B’nai B’rith Board of Governors Saturday night, Eban said that Israel would have to chart a middle course between extreme Arab demands for its total withdrawal from the administered territories and aggressive demands from certain quarters in Israel for the annexation of large tracts of Arab territory.
The general consensus in Israel is against the total annexation of the territories which would bring a million Arabs under Israeli rule against their will, Eban said. On the other hand, he added, Israel “must avoid the improvidence which would lead us back to the fragility of the armistice lines.”
Referring to Premier Golda Meir’s visit to Washington, Eban said the U.S. and Israel shared a friendship in an atmosphere of alliance. He noted that Mrs. Meir’s visit, following that of King Hussein of Jordan and Hafez Ismail, President Anwar Sadat’s personal envoy, made it clear that all three nations now look to Washington as the central address for an Arab-Israel dialogue. “The role of the U.S. as a potential user of good office has been strengthened,” Eban said.
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