In what amounted to the first official Israeli comment on the landing of Egyptian troops in Syria last week, the government-controlled radio this week-end called the troop movement an “internal affair” of the two Arab states and added that no outside power had the right to interfere. The broadcast was made on a regular Arabic-language program.
The statement, believed here to have been inspired directly by the Foreign Ministry, declared that it was a matter for the Syrian people to decide whether they would accept the stationing of foreign troops on Syrian soil. Observers considered it significant that the first statement of Israel’s position on the Arab troop movements was made to the Arabs. Up to now the Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on it to either the local or foreign press.
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.
