Premier Yitzhak-Rabin told an interviewer this weekend that he had his own detailed maps both for overall peace with the Arabs and for interim settlements. He said he would be ready to discuss his full peace map with any Arab state ready to agree that an interim settlement would be a stepping stone toward peace and would entail an end of belligerency.
Rabin said Israel and the U.S. both believed that the only practical path of progress now was by interim accords since the Arabs had made it clear to Washington that they would still demand total withdrawal before contemplating full peace –and even then it was doubtful if they would agree to real peace.
Interim settlements would entail limited withdrawals and would enable Israel to thoroughly test Arab intentions at each stage, Rabin said. The Arabs must realize that barring war, there is only one way out of the present situation, and that is moving toward peace, the Premier stressed. Rabin added that there was room for a partial settlement with Syria, too, despite the tight stretch of land involved.
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