Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban spelled out today, before the emergency special session of the General Assembly, an “agenda for peace” which looked toward full settlement of all the problems arising from this month’s Arab-Israeli war, including the status of the holy places in Jerusalem.
Mr. Eban addressed the Assembly after it had heard Jordan’s King Hussein repeating the familiar Arab charges of Israeli aggression. In his address, the Jordanian monarch, who called for the “forthwith return” of Jerusalem and other areas captured from Jordan, asserted that Jordan would learn to use modern weapons of war and would rise again against Israel when the time is ripe, unless Israel withdraws its forces immediately from territories it had taken from Jordan.
Mr. Eban’s address today was a reply to numerous statements made previously, during the current session, by the Soviet Union, Britain, France, King Hussein of Jordan and many other Arab speakers. But the only government he castigated outright was the Soviet Union. He charged that the USSR had “stimulated and is now renewing an arms race in the Middle East.” He noted that. In the last 15 years, the Soviet Union had not once called on any of Israel’s neighbors “to respect her statehood and sovereignty.”
“The Soviet Union” he declared, “has not been an impartial power working for peace and security, but an active ally of irridentist governments which planned the liquidation of a neighbor state. It is in that light that the Soviet proposals before this Assembly should be appraised, criticized and rejected. My Government indignantly rejects any statement, from whatever sources, asserting that Israel is responsible for the hostilities which broke out this month.”
After delineating separately the Egyptian and the Jordanian phases of this month’s war, Mr. Eban called attention to the fact that many Government leaders have called in the Assembly or outside the United Nations for peace between the Arabs and Israel and for timing withdrawal of troops to a point after peace solutions had been found. In this context he mentioned President Johnson and the Prime Ministers or Foreign Ministers of Denmark, Italy, Rumania, Belgium, Canada and Brazil. The he came to what he called the “agenda for peace.”
EBAN CONSIDERS A ‘DIALOGUE’ BETWEEN ARABS AND ISRAEL AS FIRST ESSENTIAL
The first essential, Mr. Eban insisted, is “a dialogue” between the Arab states and Israel and the recognition that “intermediate armistice arrangements have had their day.” If Egypt claims there is a state of war between her and Israel, he said, “then there is a state of war, and Egypt cannot complain of the consequence of its own doctrine.” The only course to assure a future of peace, he declared, is peace itself.
In the kind of peace settlement Israel seeks, he pledged, “we shall establish all the conditions of a stable and secure peace by mutual agreement. If there is a doctrine of peace, contractually expressed, then freedom of navigation follows spontaneously. There is a common interest in avoiding topographical and tactical situations congenial to border disputes.
“In conditions of peace, there is no incentive to perpetuate a refugee problem. We should all strive to ensure that those who are now refugees become the productive citizens of sovereign states. In this spirit, we have already established a Settlement Authority to work for the integration of refugees into economic life.
“Similarly, we are taking steps to ensure that the interest of the world’s religions in the peace, sanctity of the holy places and free access thereto is expressed in agreed form. For the first time in 20 years, Jerusalem is not divided, is not a military frontier and offers access to the shrines of all three great religions. Conditions are thus ripe for the fulfillment of spiritual yearnings and ideals.”
KING OF JORDAN COMPARES ISRAEL’S ACTION WITH PEARL HARBOR
In his address, King Hussein charged that Israel had planned its aggression for 19 years and had finally perpetrated “a monster, sneak aggression” that has been paralleled in history only by Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. He charged Israel with “vicious treatment” of Jordanian civilians and prisoners of war. He accused Israel of aggravating the Arab refugee problem. He demanded that the Assembly recognize clearly that Israel had invaded three Arab countries and must withdraw its forces immediately. He told the Assembly that Jerusalem is “now in foreign hands for the first time in 1,000 years.”
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