President of Tunisia Restates His Position on Arab-israel Coexistence

Tunisia’s President Habib Bourguiba, who proposed last Spring that Israel and the Arab states start negotiating about peace, made it clear in an interview published here today that his plan envisaged that “a portion of Israeli territory must be returned to the Arabs.” The interview appeared in the quarterly, Views, together with answers by Abba Eban, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, to President Bourguiba’s statements.

Referring to Arab-Israeli relations, Mr. Bourguiba said: “I thought it would be better to find a suitable platform which would attract world sympathy and international opinion and which would be an improvement as compared to the present situation the Arabs are in. This could lead to reasonable and lasting solution, the construction of peace between the countries in the area. I advocated a return to United Nations legality, respect for U. N. decisions.

“There is a portion of Israeli territory which must be returned to the Arabs. I know that Israel would not accept this easily, but it was still worth suggesting,” he declared. Asked whether he thought it would be possible in the future to negotiate with the Israelis without preconditions, he said: “I would rather not fight with people who are obstinate. I would rather look after my own country. My proposals had been made to ensure at least a minimum of peaceful coexistence between existing elements. The policy of hatred and bitterness has achieved nothing in 17 years.”

Mr. Eban, in answer to questions about Israel’s reaction to the Bourguiba proposals, said: “Nothing could be more uncongenial to the success of the Bourguiba initiative than expressions of public embrace from Israel. Our reply was that we were prepared to negotiate with any Arab state on any question. What we cannot accept is that we must make prime concessions in order to win their arrival at the conference table.”

Regarding the Arab refugee question, Mr. Eban stated: “The moral consideration must impel us only to adopt those solutions which make for the peace of the Middle East and the welfare of the refugees, and forbids us to compound the sufferings of the past by creating new tensions for the future. I don’t believe that any statement by Israel about her willingness to take back a fraction of the refugees would advance peace by a single step. But, if the Arab states were to say ‘we are prepared for an international solution of the refugee problem in which everybody must play his part’– I am sure there would be a definition of an Israeli contribution.”