The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda called today for acceptance of Russia’s peace formula for the Middle East which, it claimed, offered the best means to a “just peace.” The Pravda article was seen by observers here as containing a rebuke to radical Arab elements when it accused “certain circles” of “deliberately” promoting the idea that a political situation was not feasible.
Pravda said that despite a deteriorating Mideast situation that could lead to a new and possibly more dangerous war, “there do exist possibilities for emerging from the Middle East impasse.” The Pravda article repeated Soviet insistence on a package deal that would include Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories in return for which the Arabs would renounce their state of war with Israel and guarantee free passage through the Suez Canal and other international waterways to the shipping of all nations. Pravda dismissed United States peace plans as pro-Israel and charged that America was trying to push the Arabs into direct negotiations with Israel as a “reward” for Israeli “aggression.” Pravda declared that both sides must “proclaim as inadmissible the gaining of territories by war and must recognize the necessity of a just and reliable peace in the Middle East.”
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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.
