Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban said today that in order to bring about a Middle East peace settlement Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger will have to return to the area in April. “I would like to relieve the Secretary of running another shuttle service in the Mideast,” Eban said on ABC-TV’s interview program “Issues and Answers.” But he said that Kissinger’s direct intervention would still be needed even if the Washington talks between Syria and Israel are held. He praised both “American prestige and Kissinger’s skills” for progress toward peace so far.
Eban said that it would be the “natural thing” for Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who was named today as the Israeli negotiator, to talk directly to his Syrian counterpart. But, he noted, that the “natural thing” does not often take place and that Israel would accept any procedure that would lead to an agreement. The Foreign Minister said Syria was the most likely nation to start a war and “the last country to make a cease-fire.” But he stressed “Syria would gain at least as much as we would” by an end to the fighting.
On the role of the Soviet Union, Eban said was disturbed that Moscow was backing the Arabs rather than being a mediator as required by its role as co-chairman of the Geneva peace talks. He said a nation serving in that capacity “should have understanding” of the position of all sides involved. He termed as “disquieting” Moscow’s “heavy rearmament of Syria.”
Eban also declared that the Arab use of oil as a weapon had “not achieved its desired result.” He said, “Like many weapons, once you’ve shot it. it loses much of its effect.” He noted that the entire embargo was “extortion” and had been only a “short-term inconvenience to the industrial world.” Acknowledging that Israel’s domestic political scene recently appeared rather “bizarre and eccentric” to the outside world, Eban stressed that this did not impair the government’s ability to conduct negotiations. (See separate story for Eban talks in Washington.)
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