Defense Minister Shimon Peres conceded today that Israel had to forego some of its independence of action in order to obtain American friendship and support Israel has to pay with political concessions because it has nothing else to give. Peres told a meeting of National Religious Party youth. But, he said; America’s freedom of action was similarly circumscribed when it attempts to fulfill Israel’s requests.
Peres took a position in support of the Cabinet’s controversial decision to assent to a U.S. initiative to test Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian attitudes toward non-belligerence as a Middle East diplomatic goal. He rejected charges by opponents of the decision that it left Israel nothing to bargain with for a final peace settlement.
The Defense Minister said he preferred nonbelligerency for the time being because Israel would pay less for it than for a formal peace. According to Peres, the Arab point of view is that a final peace will require Israel to return all territories conquered in the Six-Day War and “I have my doubts if we are ready to pay this price for peace,” Peres said.
In any event, Peres predicted that peace may not come for at least 10 years and only when there is a new generation of weapons so costly that neither side will be able to afford them. The intermediate period therefore should be one of interim agreements, he told the NRP youth.
Peres said that was the reason he objected strongly to the position that Israel’s next steps with Egypt should be aimed at a final peace. He said he had opposed including that in the interim agreement signed with Egypt last September because he was convinced that peace was not at hand.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
