President Tito of Yugoslavia declared here today at a press conference broadcast on Czech Radio that there was no longer any danger that Israel would be destroyed by its Arab neighbors. He said Israel should therefore take “a more realistic attitude” and withdraw to the armistice lines of the pre-June 1967 period “in return for guarantees of the status quo.” He also declared “I have told Arab leaders that the existence of Israel must be accepted by them as a fact.”
Observers noted that the visiting Yugoslav leader made no reference to the matter of which powers would provide the guarantee but most emphasis was placed on his statement about his conversations with Arab leaders and on the fact that he did not call Israel an “aggressor,” as has been the practice of most Communist bloc countries since the June war. He noted that Israel had “diplomatic relations with many countries, including some of the world powers,” and added that “most” nations sympathized with Israel because it was a small state “and there was always the danger she would be liquidated” but “today there is no such danger.”
He told the newsmen also that Israel should accept the Security Council Nov. 22, 1967 resolution which he interpreted to mean, as do most Communist bloc states, Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. He said “time works against Israel.” It was believed here that Tito chose Prague as the site for his relatively moderate statement on the Arab-Israel conflict because he knew most Czechs were sympathetic to Israel.
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