Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart said today that he thought Israel’s insistence on direct peace talks with the Arabs was reasonable but that it was a mistake to make direct talks a pre-condition for a settlement. Mr. Stewart spoke at a meeting of Labor Party parliamentarians dealing with the Middle East. He said Israel must be convinced that the Arabs want to make a genuine peace. The Arab states have said they will not sign a peace treaty, but there has to be a binding document, Mr. Stewart said. He said that Israel’s destruction would not be in Britain’s own long term interests.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
