Eban Urges U.S. to Block Soviet Attempts at World Domination, Especially in Mideast

Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban called today on the United States to block Soviet attempts to dominate the world at large and the Middle East in particular. Appearing on the ABC television program “Issues and Answers.” Mr. Eban said, in reply to a question, that he did not think the Soviet Union was now the dominant power in the Middle East. There is “no domain and no place” where the U.S. is not dominant. Mr. Eban said, adding that Israel “would like to see more resoluteness in blocking and obstructing” Soviet attempts at domination. He said that in the present situation in the Suez Canal standstill cease-fire zone the U.S. could demonstrate its resoluteness by either “strengthening Israel to the maximal degree’ or by getting the Soviet Union to “correct” the cease-fire violations by withdrawing its missiles. Mr. Eban said, “My impression is that the U.S. has not given up hope” of rectifying the cease-fire violations.

The Israeli Foreign Minister repeated that Israel wants the cease-fire extended beyond its Nov. 5 deadline and he thought that “in Cairo there is a tendency to extend the cease-fire.” He said that if the Egyptians and Russians really want to negotiate they “will find a way” to maintain the cease-fire and correct its violations. Mr. Eban said that the death of President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt “provides a new opportunity for the Egyptian leadership to re-establish their country’s destiny” which can be done only through “peace with Israel.” He said he would not speculate over who will be Egypt’s new leader. But he passed harsh judgement on the late President Nasser. Asked if he agreed that Col. Nasser had been a moderate among Arab leaders. Mr. Eban replied that there was “absolutely no historic justification whatsoever” for such an assessment. He claimed that Nasser “united the Arab world for negative, not positive” objectives and “betrayed the concept of (Egyptian) independence” by submitting to Soviet domination.