If and when a Security Council summit conference on the Middle East takes place and Israel is invited, she will demand that–in line with United Nations Charter provisions–the Arabs meet her face to face for peace talks, Premier David Ben Gurion told the Knesset today.
If Israel is not invited, he underlined, she will not consider herself bound by any decision of the conference. He further warned that any attempt to truncate Israel would “be met with the entire military force of the state.” Mr. Ben Gurion’s statements came in response to questions by deputies.
“If Israel is invited to the summit she will demand, among other things, that United Nations members in this area be required to comply with the principles of the United Nations Charter, namely, to settle relations with Israel by peaceful means, abstain from economic boycott, from blockading the Suez Canal against Israel shipping, and to put an end to incitement against Israel’s peace and very existence,” Mr. Ben Gurion stated. The Premier insisted that the Arab states “should be required to meet Israel face-to-face in order to establish a permanent peace as they undertook in Article I of the armistice agreements.”
Asked whether Israel would be willing to propose to the Great Powers that they invite her and Egypt to peace talks, Mr. Ben Gurion said: “There is no Great Power in the West or in the East that is unaware of the fact that we are prepared to sit down with any of our neighbors on the basis of equality and mutuality.”
“If the summit conference is held, Israel will not regard herself bound by any decision adopted without her participation and without her consent in any case in which a decision injuriously affects Israel directly or indirectly,” Premier Ben Gurion said.
Asked whether there was a danger that decisions at the summit parley might truncate Israel, the Premier replied: “I have no knowledge of such designs. But if such an attempt is made, it will be met with the entire military force of Israel.”
Official Israeli sources declined today to comment on newspaper reports to the effect that Israel had asked Moscow to arrange a direct meeting between Premier Ben Gurion of Israel and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic.
According to the reports, the request to Moscow was made by Premier Ben Gurion through diplomatic channels. No reply has been received, the reports added. Additional reports circulating in this city assert that Mr. Ben Gurion also asked the USSR to supply Israel with the same arms it was giving the UAR.
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.
