Ezer Weizman, former Defense Minister of Israel, said today that from a “professional standpoint”, it was “no big matter” for Israel to blow up the missile sites in eastern Lebanon, but the overlying concern is how the Syrians would react. He added that “both sides don’t want to go to war.”
Weizman spoke here at an Overseas Press Club luncheon, primarily to promote his new book, “The Battle for Peace,” He refrained from specifics concerning the missile crisis now plaguing the Middle East.
However, when asked directly if there was a chance of war breaking out due to the new situation, Weizman responded that he is “afraid of fire-works” but said that the term war was a broad statement. Weizman doubted that the Soviet Union was behind the missile movement or that anyone in Syria initiated the movement with an ulterior motive.
Weizman spoke of his book and cited the Camp David accords as a “new beginning, an opening… to a new way of living and a new era.” He said that American interests in the Middle East are based around blocking out the Soviets, finding friends and linking the Camp David agreement to the Arab world.
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.
