Eban Says Hussein’s Speech Contradicts Peace Program Offered During Washington Visit

Foreign Minister Abba Eban said today that King Hussein of Jordan has admitted that his talk of peace during his official visit to Washington earlier this month was a matter of tactics and that he was actually preparing for a new military campaign against Israel. Mr. Eban, addressing newsmen at a Foreign Ministry briefing, referred to a speech by the Jordanian monarch in Amman yesterday which he said was a far cry from his peace program announced in Washington.

In an address to his people, King Hussein said the Arab states would end their belligerency against Israel only if and when the Israelis handed over all the occupied territory, including Jerusalem. “Either this or there can be no peace,” King Hussein said, adding that he and President Gamel Abdel Nasser of Egypt supported the goals of Arab guerrilla warfare against Israel and considered it perfectly legal.

Mr. Eban said the Jordanian King’s position was one of support for terrorists and restoration of the situation that existed on June 4, 1967, the day before the Six-Day War broke out. The King had said while in the U.S. that Israel could have either territory or peace but never both. Mr. Eban paraphrased those words when he said that Jordan cannot have peace and at the same time refuse to negotiate the subject matter of peace, including secure and agreed boundaries. By rejecting an agreement on boundaries that differ from the defunct armistice lines, he was rejecting peace and was rejecting the terms of the Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution which he professed to accept, Mr. Eban said. He noted that so far no Arab state had expressed readiness for peace, and said King Hussein’s latest speech underlines the responsibility of the Arab states for the lack of progress toward peace and for the deterioration of the situation along the cease-fire lines.