Labor Party leader Shimon Peres has urged King Hussein of Jordan to enter into direct talks with Israel as soon as possible because “otherwise he stands to lose much.”
Addressing a joint meeting of Israeli Jews and Arabs at Shafr Am in Galilee, Peres compared Hussein’s position now to that of the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt before he made his historic visit to Jerusalem in November, 1977. But there is a difference, Peres said.
“The difference is that the Sinai could have gone for another 50 years remaining empty. But in Judaea and Samaria (West Bank), new facts are being created” by Jewish settlement. “Sadat could have waited another five years and the Sinai would not have changed, but that is not the case on the West Bank, ” he said. If Hussein waits, “the sands are running out and he will lose every thing.”
Peres told his audience that he spoke “as a Jew who does not want to annex the West Bank with its 900,000 Arab inhabitants against their will.”
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