General Moshe Dayan, former Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, spoke up tonight against the stationing of United Nations troops as a buffer between Israel and the Arab states. “We should aim towards normalization of relations with neighbors; the buffer of foreign troops merely creates a fiction in neighbor-relations, and thereby defers the peace,” he said.
Gen. Dayan’s statement, which he made here in an address at the annual dinner of the Zionist Organization of America, is considered particularly significant in the light of the reported proposal by Washington for a permanent sealing of the borders between Israel and Jordan and between Israel and Syria through the United Nations. Over 1,000 Zionists and communal leaders attended the dinner in commemoration of the 19th Anniversary of the United Nations Resolution for the establishment of Israel.
Citing Israel’s gains as a result of the Sinai Campaign of 10 years ago, Gen. Dayan voiced the conviction that had the Gaza Strip remained under Israeli army control “there would have been a possibility at some time to reach an arrangement with the government of Jordan whereby the Gaza Strip would be transferred to her rule. In such an event, Jordan would settle the refugees in her territory, and, by developing the Port of Gaza, gain an outlet to the Mediterranean, a prize of supreme importance to her.”
Elaborating on this point, Gen. Dayan said that such an arrangement “would offer three general advantages: the most difficult segment of the Arab refugee problem would be solved; Egypt would lose the administrative and military “bridge-head” she maintains in Gaza and would retire to her natural borders — the western side of the Sinai desert; and the Jordan government, with her own outlet to the sea, would ensure her independence from Syria and could consolidate political and economic freedom.”
At this point Gen. Dayan voiced his opposition to the stationing of United Nations forces as a buffer between Israel and her Arab neighbors. He said: “I do not believe that Scandinavian and Canadian troops should separate Israel from the Arab states. We should aim towards normalization of relations with our neighbors. I prefer the normalization of even hostile relations over artificial arrangements. Arab and Israeli formers should plough their lands right up to the frontier, and get used to living in neighborly proximity. The troops and government of Egypt must reconcile themselves to the fact that Israel is their neighbor on land, at sea and in the air, and her rights to peaceful existence must be respected.”
Jacques Torczyner, ZOA president, was toastmaster at the dinner. He presented Gen. Dayan with a scroll as well as with the first Israel medallion minted on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Sinai Campaign. In behalf of the ZOA, Mr. Torczyner renewed the pledge on behalf of American Zionists “to stand by Israel and provide our firmest support to its just cause.”
The medal presented to Gen. Dayan shows, on its obverse side, a ship passing through the Straits of Tiran and a great sun, to symbolize peace and tranquility. In Hebrew and English, the inscription reads: “Sinai Campaign — Tenth Anniversary,” with the verse “And all her paths are peace,” from Proverbs. On the reverse, the verse “A time for war and a time for peace, from Ecclesiastes.
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.
