Premier Yitzhak Rabin urged Israeli personalities and news media today to withhold any pre-judgement of U.S. Secretary of State-designate Cirrus Vance with respect to his possible position on the Middle East “I would advise everybody to be careful not to judge a person by things which we are not even sure he said,” Rabin told a meeting of the Labor Party’s Jerusalem district council.
He referred specifically to a report in Yediot Achronot claiming that Vance has stated that the U.S. would have to exert “heavy pressure” on Israel to obtain concessions for a peace settlement. “I know Cyrus Vance and I would not like the impression to be gained that Israel or its communications media has already passed judgement on him,” Rabin said. He added that when Vance takes office “we will meet him and hear his points of view.”
Rabin stressed Israel’s ties with the U.S. He said America supports Israel but that doesn’t mean that “states or leaders in other states should not have divergent opinions at some points with Israel.” He said the test would be the support Israel gets on crucial issues. Rabin also referred to the Arab “peace offensive.” He said it was high time Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and other Arab leaders learned to make a distinction between true peace and the “end of the state of war.”
He said that if the Arab leaders are not ready for true peace now. “we are willing to make another interim agreement to abolish the state of war.” He said this was where the government differed from the Likud opposition. “We do not say if not true peace then nothing.” He said, however, that the Arabs were trying to blur the distinction.
A true peace “is not merely a statement that war has ended” but must result in changes in the area “so that people in Damascus or Cairo realize and feel that there is a change,” Rabin said. He repeated that Israel was ready to agree to territorial concessions in return for a true peace but would not withdraw to its 1967 borders.
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