Foreign Minister Yigal Allon believes the United States may resume its Middle East peace initiatives before the Presidential elections in November. The American Administration may want to renew the momentum toward a settlement in order to forestall possible Israel-Arab friction during the election campaign, Allon said in an interview published today in the Labor Party periodical Migvan. He said that if such a process was started, it would not necessarily end before the elections.
Allon said that the Labor Party should decide on an initiative toward end-of-belligerency agreement with the Arab states at its convention in December. He said the fact that Egypt, Syria and Jordan did not reject such proposals out of hand when they were made by the U.S. earlier this year was an encouraging sign. He added that a move toward ending the state of war might prove to be the most realistic step toward a full peace agreement.
The Foreign Minister said it should be clear by now that the Labor Party is ready for farreaching territorial compromises in the context of a peace treaty with the Arabs. He said such compromises would have to balance Israel’s security needs with Arab aspirations.
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.
