King Hussein or Jordan said yesterday that he did not “foresee a return to conditions that existed up to 1967 in any way, form or respect” if his country reached a peace agreement with Israel. Hussein made the statement in the course of the NBC television program “Meet The Press” when asked if he would reverse the changes which occurred on the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War if he recovered that territory after peace was achieved.
He replied in the affirmative when asked if that meant he would not uproot the Israeli settlements planted on the West Bank since the war, re-close the borders, end trade between Israel and the West Bank or prevent West Bank Arabs from taking jobs in Israel. “We are talking of total peace.” Hussein said, “not only accepted by us but more important by the generations that are to come.”
ARABS NO MATCH FOR ISRAEL
Hussein rejected war as a solution to his conflict with Israel or the broader Israeli-Arab dispute. He said “I do not believe that Arab strength is a match to the Israelis at this time and I do not believe that war is a solution to the problem.”
Hussein insisted, however, that to achieve peace with Jordan Israel must withdraw its military forces from the West Bank and that Arab sovereignty over the Arab part of Jerusalem is a “must.” But he reiterated his earlier statement that Jerusalem could become an “open city” administered jointly by Israelis and Arabs serving as the capital of both Israel and the Palestinian province of the West Bank. “We are open minded to anything and everything that would make Jerusalem the meeting place of all,” Hussein said.
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