Eban Calls on .u.s., Europe Not to Surrender to Arab Blackmail

Former Israeli Minister Abba Eban called today upon Europe and America not to give in to Arab blackmail and economic pressures and seek ways to be independent in oil and energy. Addressing some 3,000 women of the Division Workers for the United Jewish Appeal and Federation of Jewish Philanthropies Joint Campaign, Eban warned the Arabs that they should remember the results of the Yom Kippur War, which he described as a great military victory for Israel, because in the next war “they will not have the element of initiative and surprise” as they had in the last war.

Eban said that any agreement reached in the upcoming negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger should be a “balanced agreement,” in which Egypt will give “an inch towards peace” for any “inch of territory” given by Israel. “Israel is the decision of the Jewish people to be itself,” Eban declared, adding that Israel, therefore, will not disappear and will not die. “There will never be a Mideast without Israel,” he stated.

Declaring that “Israel cannot bear its’ burdens alone,” Eban urged that the Jewish people rally behind Israel and support her burdens of defense, social growth, and immigrant absorption. Eban, the new chairman of the Beit Berl institute, the center for political and social research of the Israeli Labor Party, is scheduled to address several meetings and gatherings in New York and the metropolitan area during the week. He will speak tomorrow at the Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx and will address the American Histadrut Cultural Exchange institute on Wednesday.

Yesterday Eban addressed some 2,000 persons at Temple Emanuel in Westfield, NJ, and said that the “essence of Israel’s future is in the support of human resources,” meaning aliya. “Our vulnerability is that we are three million and not four million,” Eban declared referring to Israel’s population. “It’s not beyond remedy in the next decade we must repair this demographic weakness.”