Eban Says Israel’s International Strategy Has Been Vindicated

Foreign Minister Abba Eban said today that Israel’s international strategy has been “vindicated” because it has tried to show the Arabs that negotiations are the only fruitful way of reaching a modus vivendi in the Middle East. Israel will continue to try to “close the options” of the Arabs in order to bring them to the peace table, he said at a meeting with students at Hebrew Union College here.

The Israeli Foreign Minister said that once at the peace table, both Israel and the Arab states would each find the other taking positions different from what might have been expected. “I don’t think they (the Arabs) will ever explore the limits of Israel’s flexibility except by negotiations, just as we won’t explore the limits of Arab moderation” except at the peace table, Eban said.

Referring to Israel’s attitude toward a peace settlement; Eban said “A majority of us” feel that some territorial compromises are in order but there is a strong feeling that the peace settlement should not “re-establish the situation that led to war in the first place.” His remark was an allusion to the Golan Heights and Arab demands for a division of sovereignty in Jerusalem.

Eban said that King Hussein of Jordan would do better to bring his proposals to the peace table than to advertise them in the world press. He referred to press reports that Hussein said he was willing to trade off an Israeli presence on the Jordan River for Jordanian sovereignty in the Arab sectors of Jerusalem.

Observing that the press reports did not appear to be accurate, Eban said it would be to Hussein’s advantage to bring his peace proposals to the negotiating table “so that we can comment on them.” As for Egypt, Eban suggested that Cairo look directly to Israel for a peace settlement rather than to New York, Washington and Europe.