Press. in Comments on Six-day War Anniversary, Sees Little Progress Toward Peace

Leading newspapers here and abroad noted the first anniversary of the start of last June’s Arab-Israeli war today and warned that peace in the Middle East seems further away than ever and the possibility of a new outbreak of war has increased.

The New York Times, in an editorial, called on the United States to “do more to discourage Israel from words and deeds that tend to thwart Ambassador Jarring’s mission” and on the Soviet Union to adopt “a far more restrained and conciliatory” policy in the Middle East. The Times noted that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union supported the Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution on the Middle East. But while “the United States has cooperated fully with the United Nations peace effort the Russians, in contrast, have directly promoted Arab intransigence by pumping excessive arms into the Arab states and by encouraging unreasonable Arab demands.”

(In London today. The Guardian warned that time is against Israel and the “immeasurably greater security” that Israel has gained by its new boundaries is offset by a “harvest of hate that far exceeds the bitterness before.” The paper said that “with much of the exuberance of victory drained away. Israelis may well ask themselves, was it worth it? The forces they destroyed have been virtually re-built and Nasser for one has learned that military efficiency is more important than speeches.”)

The Washington Post assorted in an editorial today that “so little has been done in the way of peace-making in the last 12 months that the slightest spark could bring them (Arabs and Israelis) back to war.” Such a war, the Post warned, “might not be as easy a war for Israel to win or as easy a war for the United States and the Soviet Union to stay out.”

New York Times correspondent Drew Middleton reported from Tripoli, Libya, today that in nine Arab countries he just visited from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. “the shock and humiliation that swept the Arab world after Israel’s victory last June have been replaced by an almost desperate desire for strength, solidarity and, above all, revenge.”

James Feron reported from Jerusalem in the New York Times today that “pressure from abroad for Israel to relent on the issue of direct talks with the Arabs has produced a corresponding determination at home to demand Arab recognition which many (Israelis) feel to be the basis for a lasting peace. Israeli leaders are saying, in effect, that there is no point in giving up military security for anything short of comparable political security. The basis for this stubborn attitude is the widely held view that another full scale clash with the Arabs is likely, if not inevitable.” Mr. Feron wrote.