FBIS Coverage of the Middle East Peace Talks- 1978 September

V. 19 Sep 78 ) -
PPROVED FOR RELEASE CIA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION AR 70-14 13N#0'f
[Sara Frankel] Mr Peres, in the light of the announcements nd publications so far regardithe framework agreement that was signed--what are, in your opinion, the positive andnegative points in this agreement?
[Answer] First, the positive points, The very fact that there is peace, this is the
positive and important point that puts all other considerations in shadow. Moreover, in
my opinion, we should consider what could have happened if we had not reached- a peace
settlementl The Midle East would have entered a state of chaos and Israel would have
found itself, isolated in the world. In every oiia iuto n hudcn~ewhat was achieved and what was prevented. y Political situation one should considerwas achieved. Second, I believe that e. What was prevented is part of the thing that- Middle East, will open horizons of econoc andl sociald developmentiffet willenable thepeoples to defend their independence, will lead to the building of large development enter-prises. As you know I have always believed that it is possible to reach a settlement withAs-Sadat even when it is only he who conducts the negotiatons I am happy shat this iswhat happened.
[Question] But?
[Answer] Without but. The price no, the painful things, I am not getting into thisnow--we will read the documents and reacte pislet ha we geuthe inai isPeace is a great thing but we should not forget thatethis we gave up the Sinai airfields,Arab world and we should be very particular about the defense options ofwthe state.f Itewas agreed in fact to return the entire sovereigty in the Sinai so the settlements thatalready exist there. will be under Egyptian sovereity in S iio the prem forJudaea and Samaria is also very high. Thn sor ignty. In my opinion, the price for p
a ccording to this settlement has turned intoa temporar in hiding this. The autonomyplanyears there will in fact be an independent Arab rule with considerable independence.- I do
not know the precise word that will be used for this but it does not make that much of a
difference, because there are 700,000 Arabs there with an elected self-rule and with strong
national desires and with the support of the outside world. The police duties will be
handed over to Arab hands,. the .IDF presence will be limited to only a nuber of positions--.these are certainly far-reaching concessions.
[Question] This means, as I gather from your words, that to0 little was achieved, or that
it was too late.
[Answer] At this moment, I am not giving out grades, I must see the overall picture.
Neither am I dealn with hypothetica .situations. You asked me what were the positivepoints, and I certainly see some positive points; you asked me whatte price was, and Itold you what the price was.
[Question] In your estimation, what is te
Party focus--or where will it focus--its discussion In other words, where are the weakspots which the Labor Party will.have to faceu
SAnswer] Obviously they are with respect. to the Rafah approaches and the fate of the
settlements respect tth entire witherespect to the future of Judaea and Samaria. Notso much with respect to the entire Judaea andSamaria area, because the autonomyplan.letus not for et thi-^ to th'9 ores
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