Rabin Rejects Any New Mideast Peace Moves Outside the Camp David Process

Former Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin last night pointedly rejected any call for a new peace initiative for the Middle East outside that of the Camp David process and warned the United States and Egypt that any departure from Camp David will be met with “stiff opposition and resistance” from the Israeli government. “We will not allow today and in the future any departure from the Camp David accords,” Rabin told some 300 persons attending an Israel Bond dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. He said that while he sees no reason to expect Egypt not to abide by its peace treaty with Israel he added: “We have the means to enforce the treaty.”

Rabin specifically noted the remarks by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles Percy (R. III.), who called for a “new initiative” by the United States and the Arab states if peace is to be achieved in the Middle East. Percy, in a television interview on the NBC-TV “Meet the Press” program last Sunday, also expressed support for the eight-point plan proposed last summer by Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia. Observers in Washington expect the plan to be revived in the next few months.

Rabin, currently serving in the Israeli Knesset, also cited the many tangible and material sacrifices Israel has incurred for peace with Egypt. He noted the uprooting of the Israeli settlement of Yamit in northern Sinai and the relinquishing of oil fields in Sinai by Israel, which provided the Jewish State with up to 25 to 30 percent of all of its energy needs, he said.

At the dinner last night, honoring Walter Kaye, a senior vice-president of Congress Factors Corp. and Congress Financial Corp., affiliates of the Philadelphia National Bank and Marvin Rabinawitz, a vice president of the Bankers Trust Co., and a unit head in the Commercial Banking Group of the U.S. Banking Department, over $300,000 in Israel Bonds were sold.

EBAN: EGYPT-ISRAEL PEACE IS “DURABLE”

At an Israeli Bond dinner last week, Abba Eban, Israel’s former Foreign Minister, predicted that the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt was “durable” and characterized it as “a revolutionary” agreement in the sphere of international diplomacy.

Addressing more than 1,000 people at the New York Hilton Hotel, Eban spoke of the sacrifices Israel has made for peace and said the Jewish State deserves more credit from world opinion. “Israel gave up more than slogans in achieving the Camp David accords,” he said.

“We gave up a naval base, airfields, access to sources of oil, homes and space and distance that were important to our national interest: A nation that has sacrificed all this does not have to prove its devotion to peace,” he said.

Eban said the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt should set an example to other Arab countries in the region since it demonstrated on Israeli flexibility when “Israel sees peace.” He continued: “You get nothing from Israel by war.”

Eban presented the Israel Peace Medal to Lord *** Taylor and its chairman, Joseph Brooks, “for exemplary service and meritorious leadership on behalf of humanitarian causes throughout the world.” The medallion was created to commemorate the Camp David agreement. More than $3 million in Israel Bonds were sold at the dinner.