While in the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, Mr. Dayan was interviewed by the Israel television correspondent in New York on reports that the U.S. State Department was considering ways of dealing with the Lebanon-Israel situation, which was characterized by constant P.L.O. attacks on Israel launched from Lebanese territory and reprisals or preventive action by Israel, mostly from the air, against P.L. 0. bases inside Lebanon.
Mr. Dayan: It has been hinted to us in the State Department that they were busy with various thoughts and plans and that they would be in contact with us on this matter. The aim at this stage is to bring about a ceasefire, or even more than that - an armistice. That is, from the point of view of the American proposal, there is no talk at the moment of a final solution, or a thorough solution, the problem being in fact very complex.
Q: There are reports of a plan to have Israel, the PLO, and perhaps other parties, in a kind of armistice conference. Will Israel cooperate with such a conference?
A: I have not heard of such a plan and I do not imagine that there is one.
Q: Have you heard about any sort of practical idea?
A. The practical idea I have heard of is the one I have just mentioned, which includes a ceasefire, and this practical idea also includes the PLO's moving away from Lebanon's southern border.
Q: Does the possibility exist that Israel will make use of some third party in order to arrive at an indirect settlement with the PLO?
A: In my personal opinion, no.
Q: What do you say to the oft-repeated question - What will happen if the PLO recognizes 242 or recognizes Israel? What will Israel do then?
A: I don't want to reply to your question in the negative only. That is, if a change should come about, the change must be such that the PLO will cease to be a military organization, that it will become a political framework, and that that political framework will alter its goals and will be ready to enter a general discussion - let us say, on how to solve the refugee problem, and, as an illustration, that it will be ready to have the million Arab refugees of 1948 who are in Jordan, view Jordan as their permanent domicile. This is a kind of revolution I don't expect to see tomorrow, but then it will no longer be the PLO; it will be a political movement which wants to solve the problem it is confronted with along realistic political lines.