Tekoah: Dialogue Can Achieve Peace

Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, stressed repeatedly today that “meaningful dialogue” between Israel and its Arab neighbors was the only way to achieve pence in the Middle East and the only method that has not yet been tried in that region. Tekoah was the guest at a luncheon of the United Nations Correspondents Association,

He emphasized in his address and In his replies to correspondents’ questions afterwards that Israel wants to “sit down with the Arabs,” He said only in that way can the future borders be determined. He insisted that Israel does not regard the present cease-fire lines as its permanent borders but cannot retreat to the insecure boundaries that existed before June, 1967.

The Israeli envoy made it clear that he placed little value in the overall review of the Middle East situation which the Security Council has agreed, at Egypt’s urging, to undertake late next month. He expressed the view that it would, only continue to delay peace and charged that Egypt’s desire to engage once more in public polemics indicated that it was not ready to take the first step toward peace with Israel.

NOT INTERESTED IN JARRING MISSION

Tekoah also made it clear, without saying so directly, that Israel is not interested in a resumption of the Jarring peace mission. Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring, the Secretary General’s special emissary to the Middle East, is due here tonight and will confer tomorrow with Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. Asked if he planned to meet with Dr. Jarring, Tekoah said he was always available if the Swedish diplomat wished to talk to him. He reminded his audience that the Jarring mission has been stalemated for two years.

According to Tekoah, the recent Security Council debate which ended with a resolution condemning both Israel’s April 10 commando raids on Lebanon and Arab terrorist violence, showed that the Arabs are still not prepared to accept Israel as a sovereign state. He said that when the Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammedel-Zayyat spoke of the need to abolish Zionism he was reiterating the Arab goal of eliminating Israel.

NOT CRITICAL OF COUNCIL RESOLUTION

Tekoah denied, in reply to a correspondent’s question, that he had been critical of the Security Council’s resolution while Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban was not. Eban, in a statement Sunday in Jerusalem, described the Security Council’s vote as a major set-back for the Arabs and praised the United States for bringing about the least one-sided resolution on the Middle East in the Security Council’s history.

Tekoah said his critical remarks were made before an amendment to the resolution deleted a call for sanctions against Israel. He said that both Eban and himself take the view that the UN, because of its make-up, cannot act impartially on the Middle East issue.

The Israeli Ambassador said he did not view the events in the Security Council as an indication that U.S. support for Israel was cooling or that the major European powers have changed their position toward Israel.