Peres Says U.S. Would Not Oppose Israeli Settlements Along Jordan Valley in Future Peace Settlement

Shimon Peres, chairman of the opposition Labor Party, said yesterday that he had “not encountered any American opposition” to the idea that Israeli settlements could remain along the Jordan Valley in a future peace settlement. Similarly, Peres told correspondents here, the U.S. was prepared to see the Israeli army remain on the Jordan River under a peace agreement.

Peres warned that if Israel did not take the diplomatic initiative during 1980 it would face massive American pressure for either a return to Geneva or a return to the Rogers Plan in 1981. He said this was because any newly elected or reelected administration would feel free to squeeze Israel, especially since by that time Israel’s foreign debt would be in the order of $20 billion and its dependence on Washington would be nearly total.

The U.S. “will not have to exert pressure but merely to refuse to increase its did,” Peres warned. He recommended that an Israeli initiative be taken in one or more of the following directions:

Implementing autonomy in Gaza first, since the Egyptians, he said, believed it could be implemented there without reference to the West Bank; a more “meaningful” approach towards the question of the powers of the proposed autonomy authority. Peres said he would be prepared to negotiate liberally over everything save Israel’s right to security and to settlement. “Greater efforts to draw Jordan into negotiations without preconditions based on UN Security Council Resolution 242” was also recommended by Peres.

He criticized members of his own party — though ‘not by name — for putting forward publicly proposals involving for — reaching concessions. He said that Labor should not advance’ specific proposals at this stage. “Nobody publishes his fallback positions before negotiations have begun,” Peres said.