Eshkol to Follow Ben-gurion’s Policy in Seeking Peace with Arabs

Premier Levi Eshkol declared today in an interview in Le Monde, the influential French daily newspaper, that his views on conditions for an Arab-Israel peace were identical with those of his predecessor, former Premier David Ben-Gurion, of offering peace to the Arabs on the basis of the status quo.

The Premier said that peace negotiations must be based on Arab acceptance of existing Israel-Arab frontiers. He added that while Israel remained ready to pay compensation to former Arab residents of what is now Israel, the country could not afford to yield any territory, particularly because Israel must allow for possible future immigration from Russia, Western Europe and the United States.

Asked if this projected immigration did not make the Arabs fear Israeli “expansion,” the Premier stressed that Israel had accepted the status quo on borders once and for all. He said that industrialization and expansion of agriculture in Israel’s Negev waste — where irrigation will be extended when the joint United States-Israeli nuclear desalination program is completed — would enable Israel to absorb the hoped-for newcomers. He added that if the nuclear desalination project was successful, the process could also be used by the Arab countries and thus become a key to peace in the Middle East.

The Premier deplored the fact that both Israel and Egypt must spend so heavily for arms when the money could so much better be used for internal development. Asked why Israel had rejected proposals to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, the Premier replied that neither Israel nor Egypt have nuclear weapons and that the first essential step therefore was to destroy conventional weapons. He said he felt an effort for general disarmament would be a wiser goal. The Premier asserted that time was on Israel’s side.