Foreign Minister Abba Eban said last night that if the Arabs agree to a full pence Implying diplomatic relations, economic and commercial contact a and normal movement of people and ideas across neighboring borders, the territorial issue would become “much less agonizing and acute.” If, on the other hand, peace was to be merely a synonym for a fragile cease-fire, then Israel’s “indispensable conditions” for territorial security would be “more severe.” Eban made these statements at a meeting here of the Israel Bonds Organization. A 30-member national emergency leadership delegation of the Bonds group arrived yesterday for three days of top level briefings with government officials. They will discuss current efforts to sell $642 million in Israel Bonds this year.
The Foreign Minister said Israel’s first task at the peace conference should be to find out what the Arabs mean when they allude to peace. The question of boundaries, always a vital issue, would be a factor in this and therefore should be discussed second, Eban said. It had been proven he continued, that no military deterrence was absolute and it could never be possible for Israel to completely destroy the Arab capacity to attack. The gap should be filled by “generating a lack of will to attack,” Eban stated. “That’s what peace is about.”
He noted that the apprehensive reaction by Israelis and Jews to the prospects of peace talks was understandable in the light of centuries of Jewish history. But he called for “a balanced attitude” and said no purpose was served by “applying deprecatory adjectives to the Geneva conference.”
Before addressing the Bond Organization delegation Eban conveyed to U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Keating the Cabinet’s agreement in principle to take part in the peace talks scheduled for Dec. 18. The two diplomats met for more than an hour and officials said Eban had added “explanations” to the Cabinet decision and that the two discussed the issue of Israeli POWs in Syria. It is believed–though not officially confirmed–that Israel has made it clear to the U.S. –as Premier Golda Meir and Eban have declared publicly–that it will not sit at the peace table with Syria so long as Damascus does not observe the Geneva Convention regarding POWs.
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.
