News Brief

All was quiet on the western front of the Suez Canal today, the second anniversary of the cease-fire. Helmetless Egyptian soldiers were seen fishing off the western shores, some of them wading deep in the water. Military sources reported nothing unusual on the Israeli side where soldiers heard special lectures marking the occasion.

On the debit side, Eban noted, was the fact that peace or negotiations toward peace had not yet come about. But, he added, there was “wide acceptance” in the world of the need for direct negotiations between parties to disputes, particularly in the light of recent experiences in other areas of conflict. Eban said it would be “bad” for Israel to seek to absorb a million Palestinian Arabs who do not want to be absorbed into Israel but he stressed Israel would not return to the pre-Six-Day War boundaries. He said he envisioned close economic intercourse with the Arabs after peace was established.

He declared that Israel was satisfied with its policy toward the Mideast mission of Dr. Gunnar Jarring, the United Nations peace emissary, who returned last week to the UN in an effort to renew talks with Israel and the Arab states. Israel currently opposes renewal of that mission because Dr. Jarring has not acted on an Israel request for withdrawal of a Jarring memorandum of Feb. 8, 1971, proposing Israel agreement to complete withdrawal from the occupied areas. Eban said that the gap between the sides was too wide for any chance of progress for the Jarring mission. He added Israel was not giving up hope of an overall Mideast settlement but realized that this would come about in stages.

Eban said he favored an Allon-type of peace agreement under which the West Bank would not be annexed by Israel but Israel would ensure its security by preventing Arab troops from crossing the Jordan into the West Bank. Deputy Premier Yigal Allon has proposed that Israel hold strategic points in the West Bank after withdrawal.