Authoritative Israel sources today discounted apparently inspired reports from Cairo that talks are being conducted quietly for the settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict and that British diplomatic representatives have been negotiating separately with Israel and the Arab states for nearly three weeks.
The Israel Government, these sources said, has not received any offer for mediation between it and the Arab states. There has been no British offer of mediation and no mediator has come forth to offer his services, the same source declared.
The reports emanating from Cairo about the possibility of negotiations between Israel and the Arab states, were termed by these sources a “smokescreen.” The forthcoming visit of Gideon Raphael, top Israel Foreign Ministry official, to Belgrade, which has been spotlighted in the British press as an indication of the possibility of Marshal Tito mediating between Israel and the Arabs, was described as a “purely private” visit.
(The New York Times, in a cable from Cairo today, said that the British are seeking a basis for Arab-Israel negotiations with a view to inducing Israel to make territorial concessions in the Negev as the price of peace. The Cairo report stated that the British talks “have reached a stage where Egypt and probably Iraq and Lebanon are considering negotiations without demanding as a prior condition Israel’s implementation of United Nations resolutions on partition and the right of Palestine Arab refugees to choose either repatriation to their former homes now in Israeli territory or compensation.”)
Mrs. Golda Myerson, Acting Foreign Minister, declared today in a press interview that Israel’s security situation remains “extremely grave.” Western feelers during the past few days have left Israel’s position on basic issues unchanged, she stressed. Israel will not make any major territorial concessions although it is prepared to discuss minor adjustments, she said, and while Israel will not accept the return of Arab refugees to its territory it is ready to confer on any scheme for their resettlement.
Asserting once again Israel’s eagerness to meet with Arab representatives for peace talks, Mrs. Myerson said that United Nations officers or any third party who would not attempt to “impose conditions on us in advance” would be suitable in a mediating role. She insisted that Prime Minister Eden has ruled himself out as a mediator by his recent “compromise” suggestion, which Israel views as an attempt to curry favor with the Arabs at Israel’s expense.
The likelihood of a meeting this week between Premier David Ben Gurion and Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns, United Nations truce supervisor, over the proposals by Gen. Burns and UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold for reduction of tension in the Gaza strip and El Auja border areas, was indicated today in government circles.
The Soviet Ambassador to Israel called on Acting Foreign Minister Golda Myerson yesterday for a visit which lasted an hour. They discussed problems connected with the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This is Ambassador Alexander Abramov’s first call at the Foreign Ministry since his return several weeks ago from home leave.
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.
