EDITORIAL: The Israeli Prime Minister’s radio interview … raises grave doubts about its willingness to recognise the reality of Palestinian identity and dampens hopes of early progress towards peace in the Middle East. Mr [Yitzhak] Rabin has asserted that “a third State between Israel and Jordan is out of the question”. And worse still, he has volunteered the information that “the United States shares the Israeli views”. If that is true, America’s position as an honest broker … may be compromised. …

There is also a difference of approach between King Hussein and the PLO about who has the right to represent the Palestinians. The latter has been accepted by the Arabs and most of the Muslim countries as the sole representative of its people … at the Algiers and the Lahore summits. The Arab view seems to be that the PLO should be able to organise a State of its own in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after its liberation. But, according to reports, America seems to support the Jordanian ambition to pre-empt the whole issue by negotiating with Israel. … The Israeli thinking on the issue is fraught with great dangers. It is important for the Arabs to achieve unanimity among themselves.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2024