Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres said here today that he was optimistic that President-elect Jimmy Carter will honor his commitments to help Israel. He said that Carter had his personal religious beliefs as well as political reasons for this and observed that the next President will not be worse and perhaps better than his predecessors with respect to Israel. He suggested that the Carter Administration may prove to be even stronger than prior Administrations in resisting Arab oil pressure.
Peres made his remarks at a closed private meeting here with representatives of the 32 constituent organizations of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The Israeli defense chief will meet later this month with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and is expected to have meetings as well with Carter aides.
Peres said that Israel is willing and ready to go to Geneva but he is not optimistic over the results of a peace conference held in the glare of publicity. He pointed to the lack of progress being made at the Rhodesia conference now taking place in Geneva. He said Israel was ready for compromises for peace but would not sacrifice its essential interests for the sake of favorable headlines such as are being sought by Egyptian. President Anwar Sadat.
Peres described Israel’s position as a moderate one but stressed that it would fight to preserve a united Jerusalem and defensible borders. He said Israel cannot ever again become a state with a “ten-mile waits.” It will not turn over to the next generation a constantly threatened, unprotected country, he said.
PLO AT GENEVA IS OUT
The Defense Minister said that peace could be reached with Egypt but not as long as Sadat assumes the role of spokesman for the PLO. He said that Israel would never tolerate a West Bank state and didn’t think the U.S. would support such an entity that would threaten the government of King Hussein of Jordan no less than it threatened Israel.
Peres stated that Israel would not object if the Jordanian delegation to the Geneva conference included Palestinian representatives. He said that even if Israel agreed to PLO participation at Geneva–which it will never do–the PLO is divided within itself over whether to go to Geneva. He said the PLO is also split over acceptance of a West Bank state, even if Israel were agreeable. But Israel will never agree because such a state would be “a great tragedy for Israel’s future.”
Peres criticized Israelis and others who meet with PLO representatives. He said such meetings were doomed to failure and would gain nothing but would divide Israel’s supporters and encourage the Palestinians to maintain their extremist positions in belief that the Jews will eventually come around.
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