Israel Ambassador Abba Eban will discuss the changes in the present status quo in the Middle East–resulting from the Syrian-Egyptian merger and from the projected Jordan-Iraqi union–with the State Department in Washington, it was learned here today. Similar discussions will be held by Israel ambassadors in London and Paris with the British and French foreign offices, respectively.
Official circles here still abstained from any comment on the projected Jordan-Iraqi merger. Apparently the Israel Government has still not made up its mind as to what line to take with regard to this merger or to the Egyptian-Syrian union. It was recalled here today that the idea of an Iraqi-Jordanian union drew evident objections from Israel when it was first suggested before the Sinai campaign. The fact that the Israel Government is cool toward the Syrian-Egyptian union also is no secret.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced today an extension of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Akaba from the present three to 12 miles. This was viewed here as a preparation for a new legalistic attempt to interfere with Israel’s freedom of navigation through the Strait of Tiran.
Israel has been using the Strait–the link between its southern Negev port of Elath on the Gulf and the Red Sea–for sea commerce with nations of Asia and Africa since the Sinai campaign. Israel troops at that time silenced Egyptian guns at Sharm-el-Sheikh at the Strait and contingents of the United Nations Emergency Force have been on duty at that point since.
At the present time the three miles of Saudi Arabian territorial waters and the six miles of Egyptian rights leave seven miles of the 16-mile-wide strait as unchallenged international waters. Israel experts said that the Saudi unilateral extension was apparently based on the hope that this would eliminate “International waters” and thus diminish one of Israel’s arguments for freedom of navigation in the waterway.
Legal experts here, however, attached little importance to the Saudi declaration, noting that since Israel is a littoral state on the Gulf of Akaba, she is entitled to passage in the Tiran Strait. The experts noted also that none of the Western maritime powers, including the United States and England, recognize such unilateral extensions of territorial water rights.
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.
