Eshkol Says His Talks with British Statesmen Were ‘most Encouraging’

Levi Eshkol, Israel’s Prime Minister, declared here today that his meetings with British Premier Harold Wilson, Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart and other ranking members of the Cabinet have been “most encouraging.”

Climaxing his six-day series of official governmental conversation here, the Israeli Prime Minister reviewed the conferences he has held here since last Thursday, and called upon “world statesmanship” to play a “crucial role in the advancement of peace” in the Middle East. He spoke at a luncheon tendered in his home by the Anglo-Israel Parliamentary group.

The international community, he said, “should Insist that the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, to which all the states in our region have subscribed, should be applied in the Middle East. The international community cannot accept a situation in which Middle East member states alone openly declare their intention to destroy one of their neighbors.”

Mr. Eshkol said Israel was “privileged to have so many friends in the British Parliament.” He noted that the Government and people of Israel “will always remember the good will and sympathy of all kinds of British Parliamentarians and their interest in the Ideals of Israel’s restoration to the land of its fathers as expressed in the Balfour Declaration.”

SEES NO DANGER FOR IMMEDIATE CONFLICT WITH THE ARAB COUNTRIES

“I do not say there is danger of immediate conflict in the Middle East,” the Israeli Premier told the British Parliamentarians. “Nevertheless, heavy Arab arms build-ups, new Soviet arms deals with the Arabs, Arab implementation of the United Arab Command, and threats to divert the sources of the Jordan River–all these give grounds for concern. We must maintain an adequate deterrent capacity as the best guarantee against war. On the other hand, we must also strive and hope for peace.

“If, today, it is still difficult to point to tangible grounds for this hope, there are considerations pointing toward the future,” he continued. “First, although the Arab governments pursue policies of hostility and incitement, we believe that, in the course of time, the Arabs will realize that war solves no problems. Second, the Arabs and the Israelis belong to the Middle East from time immemorial. In hostility, both sides suffer; in cooperation and peace, both sides will prosper.

“If a so-called Arab-Israeli dispute were the only source of tension in the area, this conflict might have already taken place. However, for the past decade and more, the Middle East has been the focal point of international tension in the cold war. Against this background, Arab-Israeli disputes have often been magnified beyond their natural proportions.”

Mr. Eshkol stressed that Israel is not isolated from all the countries in its region. He pointed out that Israel has relations with non-Arab countries in its region, “many of them Moslems, whose populations equal if they do not exceed that of the Arab countries.”