Eban Offers M. E. Peace Plan

(Continued from Page 1)
ment establishing peace should
contain a pledge of mutual non-
aggression.
The fourth principle is the prin-
ciple of an open frontier.
When agreement is reached on
the establishment of peace with
permanent boundaries, the free-
dom of movement now existing in
the area, especially in the Israel-
Jordan sectors, should be main-
tained and developed.
The fifth principle concerns
navigation.
Interference with navigation in
the international waterways in the
area has been the symbol of the
state of war and, more than once,
an immediate cause of hostilities.
The arrangements for guarantee-
ing freedom of navigation should

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1,

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I be unreserved, precise, concrete
and founded on absolute equality
of rights and obligations between
Israel and other littoral states and
indeed all members of the mari-
time community.
Sixthly, refugees.
The problem of displaced popu-
lations was caused by war and can
be solved by peace. On this prob-
lem I propose:
A conference of Middle Eastern
states should be convened, to-
gether with the governments con-
tributing to refugee relief and the
specialized agencies of the United
Nations, in order to chart a five-
year plan for the solution of the
refugee problem in the framework
of a lasting peace and the integra-
tion of refugees into productive
life. This conference can be called

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-,--..---

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

(Copyright 1968, JTA Inc.)

I

UN MOODS: The Arab-Israel issue looms high on the agenda of
the current session of the United Nations General Assembly, which
is expected to prOduce more fireworks than practical results as far
as that issue is concerned.
To be expected are the usual long, perfunctory speeches by the
representatives of the Arab countries, repeating their familiar anti-
Israel litany. Israel will be attacked by the Soviet delegate. There
will be American middle-of-the-road speeches, supported by Britain
and Canada, and th,6 not-so-friendly speeches by the delegate of France.
But the outcome of this General Assembly will be determined not
by the public speeches but by the talks that go on behind the scenes.
They will revolve around the report of Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring,
the Swedish diplomat whom UN Secretary-General U Thant sent to
Israel and the Arab countries to pave the way for Arab-Israel peace
talks. Dr. Jarring's discreet efforts seem to have produced no results.
The Syrians refused to see him, Egypt was barely cooperative, and
Jordan talked to him from both sides of the mouth. Israel bas insisted
on face-to-face talks with the Arabs without any intermediary.
The efforts to bring Israel and the Arab countries together under
UN supervision are expected to continue behind • the scenes of the
General Assembly. Strong pressure is expected to be put on Israel
to reat from its stand on direct talks. Washington has been quietly
to pressure Israel in that direction ever since Dr. Jarring was
sent.to the Middle East. During the current General Assembly, State
Department pressure will probably increase while .the Arab countries
and the Soviet bloc intensify their campaign to force Israeli withdrawal
from the occupied Arab territories.

*

WASHINGTON MOODS: The general sentiment in the United States

is pro-Israel as was indicated at the conventions of both the Demo-
cratic and Republican parties. But the State -Department does not
seem to be influenced by that fact. There are many sub-surface dis-
agreements today 'between the State Department and Israel.
The State Department expects Israel to make substantial con-
cessions on frontiers, the status of Jerusalem and on the Arab refugee
issue. State Department officials believe that there is "no urgency"
for a decision on whether Israel can buy the 50 Phantom jets she
asked for a year ago. They argue that the reorganization of the Egypt-
ian Army will take at least two years, even with Soviet arms; they
claim that Israel's strategic position is incomparably better today than
it ever was before.
The State Department is "irked" by Israel's refusal to sign the
nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It suspects that Israel soon may be
in a position to produce atomic weapons. The State Department also
considers Israel's retaliation against Arab terrorism to be "more
severe than necessary." And it is displeased by Israel's insistence on
direct talks with the Arabs and its refusal to heed Washington's advice
to be more "flexible" on this issue.
Israel insists on direct talks with the Arabs—without the inter-
vention of a third party—because it fears that the presence of a third
party, be it the United Nations or the Big Powers, may lead to an
imposed peace with terms possibly harmful to Israel's existence.
State Department officials go to unconventional and even undiplo-
matic lengths to air the differences between the United States and
Israel. They hold off-the-record briefings for select groups of Wash-
ington correspondents who are therein provided with "background in-
formation." This "background information" clearly indicates to the
journalists that while there is no public disagreement between the
U.S. and Israel, disagreements exist beneath the surface.
*
ISRAELI MOODS: High Israeli diplomats tell you frankly that under
prevailing circumstances in the United Nations, Israel cannot expect
the world body to make just decisions on the Arab-Israel issue,
either at the General Assembly or at the Security Council.
The Israel government is aware that Moscow, in its role of pro-
tector of the Arab countries, will always veto any measure favorable
to Israel in the Security Council. In the General Assembly, the large
Afro-Asian bloc and the Soviet bloc—together with other not too
friendly nations—obstruct any measure from which Israel may benefit.
Israel is not affiliated with any territorial blocs. It stands alone
in the United Nations. It is aided most of the time by the United
States, Canada and the Scandinavian countries; sometimes by Great
Britain and friendly Latin American countries. It always comes under
prolonged verbal attacks by the Arabs and delegates of other Moslem
nations like Pakistan. They are supported by India and most of the
Soviet bloc. Israel is probably justified in feeling that the Soviet-Arab
alliance has led the United Nations away from its basic ideals.

40 Friday, October 11, 1968

—

in advance of peace negotiations.
Under the peace settlement,
joint refugee integration and re-
habilitation commissions should be
established.
The seventh principle refers to
Jerusalem.
Israel does not seek to exercise
unilateral jurisdiction in the holy
places of Christianity and Islam.
We are willing in each case to
work out a status to give effect to
their universal character. We would
like to discuss appropriate agree-
ments with those traditionally con-
cerned. Our policy is that the
Christian and Moslem holy places
should come under the responsi- I
bility of those who hold them in
reverence.
The eighth principle refers to
the acknowledgement and recogni-
tion of sovereignty, integrity and
right to national life.
This principle, inherent in the
charter and expressed in the Se-
curity Council resolution of No-
vember 1967, is of immense im-
portance. It should be fulfilled
through specific contractual en-
gagements to be made by the Gov-
ernment of Israel and of each Arab
state to each other—by name. It
follows logically that Arab gov-
ernments would withdraw -all the
reservations which they have ex-
pressed on adhering to interna-
tional conventions, about the non-
applicability of their signatures to
their relations with Israel, or about
the nonexistence of Israel itself.
Ninth, regional cooperation.
The peace discussion should in-
clude an examination of a common
approach to some of the resources
and means of communication in
the region in an effort to lay foun-
dations of a Middle Eastern com-
munity of sovereign states.
The prospect of exploring peace
terms should follow normal prece-
dents.. There is no case in history
in which conflicts have been liqui-
dated or a transition , effected from
a state of war to a state of peace
on the basii of a stubborn refusal
by one state to meet another for
negotiation.
There would be nothing new in
the experience of the Middle East
or in the relationship of Israel and
the Arab states for them to meet
officially to effect a transition in
their relationships. They have done
so before. What is new and unpre-
cedented is President Nasser's
principle of "no negotiation."
But in the meantime we con-
tinue to be ready to exchange ideas
and clarifications on certain mat-
ters of substance through Ambas-
sador Jarring with any Arab-gov-
ernment willing to establish a just
and lasting peace with Israel.
There can be a preliminary stage.
Lest Arab governments be
tempted out of sheer routine to
rush into impulsive rejection, let
me suggest that tragedy is not
what men suffer but what they
miss. Time and again these gov-
ernments have rejected proposals
today—and longed for them to-
morrow. The fatal pattern is drawn
across the whole period since 1947
— and before.
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (JTA)
— The Cairo semi-official news
paper Al Ahram reported from
here Wednesday that Secretary-
General U Thant's personal Middle
East peace representative, Dr.
Gunnar V. Jarring, has asked
Thant to relieve him of his duties
as of Nov. 8. The UN spokesman

Tuesday morning, was "justifiably
anxious" to see some "movement."
Wiggins said that Dr. Jarring "has
separated himself from his fam-
ily and from his official post
(Sweden's envoy to Russia), and
it would seem to me that it would
be inevitable that he would not
wish to protract such an exercise
interminably and indefinitely in
the absence of concrete and de-
finite signs of progress."
French Foreign Minister Michel
Debre told the United Nations
General Assembly that in France's
view "a direct negotiation between
the Israeli government and each
of the Arab governments did not
appear to stand the slightest
chance." He said that was why his
government believed it was up to
the UN to define the elements of a
reasonable solution and considered
the Security Council's Middle East
resolution of Nov. 22, 1967 to be
a step in that direction.
Foreign Minister Ketema Yifru
of Ethiopia also took the position
that the Nov. 22 resolution and the
Jarring mission provided the only
road to Middle East peace. Speak-
ing in the general debate, Yifru
said all parties to the dispute
should accept all the obligations
contained in the resolution and
should be ready to perform them
forthwith. He said a resolution of
the Middle East crisis would have
to be based on the renunciation by
all states of belligerency, accep-
tance by all of the existence of
Israel as a sovereign state, a just
solution to the Palestinian refugee
problem on the baSis of past UN
resolutions, - and- withdrawal of
Israel troops from territories oc-
cupied during the Six-Day War.
Ahmed Laraki, foreign minister
of Morocco, took the floor to ac-
cuse Israel of pursuing "an ag-
gressive policy against the Arab
countries," refusing to implement
UN resolutions and repeatedly vio-
lating the cease -fire. In addition,
he charged that "Zionist forces
committed atrocities and - acts of
oppression" against the population
of the occupied lands and accused
them of "profaning the Moslem
and Christian holy places" and
confiscating private property. He
said his government supported the
resistance of the Palestinian peo-
ple and considered their defense
as a natural and legitimate right
in the face of annexation.
TEL AVIV (JTA) -- Defense
Minister Gen. Moshe Dayan said
Tuesday that the Sinai Peninsula
is as vital to Israel's security as
the Golan Heights of Syria. Until
its capture by Israeli forces in the
June 1967 war, the Golan Heights
provided a stronghold from which
Syrian gunners could fire at will
on Israeli settlements and farm-
lands in the valley below.
"Any child can understand how
vitally important Golan is for Is-
rael," Gen. Dayan said at the an-
nual meeting of the Israel Explora-
tion Society in Ashkelon. "But
most people do not- understand that
the Sinai and especially the Straits
of Tiran ,are equally important to
our strategic security," he said.
LONDON (JTA) The call for
a "Jihad"—holy war—against Is-
rael issued by Islamic religious

leaders from 34 countries in Cairo
last week is not likely to draw the
response that similar calls in past
eras elicited from the Moslem
faithful, the London Times report-
ed from Cairo Wednesday.

"In theory, such a call should
set the devout ablaze," the Times
said. "It should be emphasized,
however, that in modern declara-
tions of Jihad, there is a spacious
gap between wish and fulfillment.
It could be said that never in the
field of human conflict has so
much been urged upon so many by
men who are heeded by so few."
The semi-official Cairo news-
paper Al Ahram reported Sunday
that religious leaders representing
75,000,000 Moslems in 34 countries
have called for a "holy war" on
Israel to recover the shrines of
Islam in East Jerusalem.
According to the paper. the call
to arms was sounded' after the
religious leaders heard a tape
recording of what was purported
to be Jews desecrating the El
Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem.

President Nasser of Egypt is
exerting heavy pressure on Jor-
dan's King Huusein in order to
forestall any plans the latter
may have to sound out Israel on
peace terms, the Daily Express
said. Israelis were said to fear
this pressure could cost Hussein
his throne and install a far less
moderate government in Jordan.
The Express reported that Hus-
sein's brother, Prince. Hassan,
rushed here over the weekend
to warn the king, who was re-
covering from minor surgery, of
mounting unrest in Amman. The
Popular Front there wanted him
to drop . his pro-Western stand
and put - the Arab. Legion, his
army, fully behind the terrorist
organizations that are conduct-
ing guerrilla warfare against Is-
rael, the Express reported.
Charles Douglas-Home, the Lon-

don Thnea'military correspondent,
said hi an article that the Arabs
are incapable of conducting an'all-
gut war " now to retake the terri:
tories occupied by Israel. But re=
cognizing this; they are prepared
to wage .guerrilla warfare inde-
finitely and to settle for "limited
victories," he wrote, In the long
run, he said, "The sterility. of the
dreary routine of provocation and

retaliation may eventually force

both sides to search for more poli-
tical and less military means of
conducting a dialogue.".
King Hussein is reported to
have drawn up contingency plans
to turn his kingdom into a "guer-
rilla state" on a total war footing
if current Middle East peace ef-
forts fail to produce a settlement
acceptable to the Palestinians. The
plans were said to spring from
Hussein's "disillusionment" with
the United States and its failure
to pressure Israel into a settle-
ment acceptable to the Arabs. It is
also based on the king's fear that
if he agreed to any compromise
plan it would precipitate a direct
clash between the Jordan govern-
ment and various guerrilla organi-
zations operating on Jordanian ter-
ritory which could mean the end
of the Hashemite monarchy, it was
reported.

Eban, Rusk Put Heads Together

said Wednesday that there was no
truth to the resignation report.

Diplomatic observers here com-
mented that if Dr. Jarring has in-
deed so acted, his move was a
tactic to pressure the Israelis and
Arabs to deinonstrate to him that
there is some movement toward
peace.
There was an implication in
comments made Tuesday to the
press by the new United States
Ambassador to the UN, J. R. Wig-
gins, that Dr. Jarring may be con-
templating the end of his mission.
Wiggins said that Dr. Jarring,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS whom he saw for the first time

Israel Foreign Minister Abba Eban (left) and Secretary of State
Dean Rusk discuss Middle East peace prospects at the United
Nations. •