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Lebanese Minister Called ‘constructive’ in Talks on Mideast in Rome

July 16, 1971
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Lebanon’s Foreign Minister, Khalili Abouhamad, currently on an official visit here, displayed a “constructive” attitude on the Middle East dispute in talks with Italian Foreign Minister Aldo Moro, Foreign Ministry circles said today. According to the circles, he said Lebanon’s territorial questions with Israel must remain governed by the 1949 armistice but expressed concern over Israel’s failure to withdraw from the occupied territories. Abouhamad said Israel’s security could best be guaranteed “within a political framework and a spirit of peaceful coexistence rather than by territorial changes.” The Ministry circles said that Moro reiterated Italy’s support of a solution based on the Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution. Moro also stressed that the Palestinian refugee problem was a political problem as well as social and humanitarian one and must be resolved if there is to be a peaceful solution of the Middle East crisis. On Jerusalem. Moro reportedly said that Italy’s position has always been that the city’s status should not be changed prior to a settlement.

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