Peres favours land for peace

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 11

Peres favours land for peace

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, was quoted in an interview yesterday as saying he approved of Israel exchanging land for peace. He told the Arabic-lan-guage Jerusalem newspaper, “Al-Quds,” that he favoured autonomy for the 1.3 million Arabs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip while peace was pursued. Some members of the Government, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Yitzhak Shamir, regard the West Bank as part of the Jews’ biblical heritage and believe autonomy should be the last stage of a peace settlement. “I agree to the principle of exchanging land for total peace,” Mr Peres was quoted as saying. “Our aspiration is that the people will run their own affairs,” he said. Mr Peres said that when his National Unity Coalition

took office in September last year, “everything looked closed.” “Now everything looks open,” he said. “We are interested in advancing the situation to create a civilised opportunity to sit together and talk to find a solution.” 1 “Al-Quds,” published in east Jerusalem, is affiliated with Jordan. The Egyptian President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, has proposed talks between Egypt, a Jordanian-Palestinian team and the United States, followed by discussions between a JordanianPalestinian group and Israel. Mr Peres said he respected King Hussein of Jordan but was uneasy about Mr Mubarak’s plan that King Hussein or his representatives meet United States officials before talking to Israel. “No-one has yet explained why he (Hussein) should go to the United States,” he said. “Why cross the Atlan-

tic when it is easier to cross the Jordan?” Israel fears that preliminary talks between Arab delegations and the United States would be aimed at securing Washington’s consent to including the Palestine Liberation Organisation in negotiations, which the Israelis refuse to consider. Yesterday an Israeli settler, aged 58, was shot dead in the marketplace of the occupied West Bank town of El Bireh, Israeli military officials said. Military sources said they believed he had been shot by guerrillas. They said he was shot in the head. It was the first serious incident in the West Bank since February .4 when an Israeli soldier was killed, also in El Bireh, near Ramallah. About 45,000 settlers have moved into the West Bank since it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War, prompting frequent clashes with the area’s 800,000 Palestinians.