Foreign Minister Abba S. Eban of Israel indicated in an interview published here today that Israel is prepared to negotiate permanent boundaries with its Arab neighbors and certain questions relating to Jerusalem, such as free access to the holy places by all faiths. In the interview, which appeared in the Paris weekly, L’Express, Mr. Eban said that the first step toward thawing out the Middle East crisis is the establishment of “secure and recognized” borders. These, he said, would not be identical with the boundaries that existed in May, 1967 nor would they conform with the present cease-fire lines.
The Israeli foreign minister insisted that King Hussein, of Jordan could halt terrorist activities against Israel from Jordanian soil because he had the backing of his army. Mr. Eban noted that despite its aggressively anti-Israel position, Syria did not permit terrorist activities from its soil, nor did Egypt. He said, however, that Israel prefers the Hussein regime to one, it might be closely aligned with Soviet Russia. He said that Israelis are confident about the future because, as time goes by, the Arabs will come to consider Israel a permanent element in the Middle East. Peace is the final objective sought by all, he said, and once that is achieved, cooperation will be brought about by the common interests of all nations in the region.
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