Israel Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett today met for a half-hour with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. During the meeting reference was made to a previous talk at Geneva regarding the flow of Communist munitions to Egypt. Mr. Sharett told newsmen that little was added today to what was said before.
The Israel Foreign Minister said he did not discuss the Baghdad Pact conferences at which anti-Israel agitation has emerged, or the arms list submitted last week by Ambassador Abba Eban. He explained that these matters are being discussed at a different level. Ambassador Eban and George V. Allen, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, participated in the meeting.
Later in the day, Secretary General Abdel Khalek Hassouna of the Arab League conferred with Herbert Hoover, Jr., Under Secretary of State, and Mr. Alien in what was believed to be an attempt to dissuade the United States from selling arms to Israel. Mi. Hassouna cited the stand of Egyptian Premier Nasser on the Eden proposal for Israel “compromise” and the Israel bid for American munitions.
OUTLINES ISRAEL’S STAND ON PEACE; REJECTS UNILATERAL CONCESSIONS
Speaking at the National Press Club this afternoon, Mr. Sharett stated that the invocation of the 1947 Palestine partition resolution “as a basis for a settlement in 1955 or 1956 is an attempt to turn the wheel of history backwards.” He expressed hope that ”enlightened American opinion will reject illusory shortcuts to peace proposed at the expense of both practicability and justice, and will be guided by the consideration of what is both realistic and fair. “
Mr. Sharett said that to offer constructive contributions towards a peace settlement and to conduct direct peace negotiations in a spirit of give and take, “Israel must resist any attempt to debit her account alone with the cost of attaining a settlement and to exact from her, as a price of peace, unilateral concessions at the expense of her sovereignty and territorial integrity.” He stressed that ”peace with Israel means peace with Israel as it is, both as to its population and as to its area.”
“There has been much talk of late in various quarters about the need for mutual concessions for the sake of peace,” he declared. These assertions fail to convince Israel that the proposed concessions are really meant to be mutual. No one has yet heard of any intention to urge any of the Arab states to give up a part of its territory in order that it be added to Israel,” he pointed out, adding that “the only practical and fair basis for a peace settlement as far as territory is concerned, is the maintenance of the status quo–with or without certain agreed adjustments of the line for the mutual benefit of both sides.”
Mr. Sharett said Israel has been “reassured by the declared readiness of the United States Government to give sympathetic consideration to our requests for the acquisition of arms for legitimate self-defense and hopes that they will be met. ” He stressed that ‘there can be no substitute for the matching of arms of aggression by arms of defense.” However, he emphasized that “a most important supplementary role, again both as a deterrent and as a defensive measure, can be played by a security guarantee couched in the form of a treaty.”
Asked if Israel would buy arms from the Soviet bloc, Mr. Sharett indicated Israel might buy arms from the Soviet Union or any other country in a “matter of life or death”
At a luncheon of the Israel Bond Organization in New York yesterday, Mr. Sharett said that Israel must purchase arms even at the risk of paralyzing its economic development, since Egypt is now getting military supplies from the Communist countries. He explained that the purchase of arms “means a very heavy sacrifice” and “a diversion of funds from eminently constructive ends, but it is indispensable.” He added that public opinion here might help to persuade the United States Government to “sell at least certain defensive weapons to Israel.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
