Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger claimed Friday after a two-hour meeting at the State Department that there are “no specific” or “urgent” problems between their two governments.
Kissinger said there “are no urgent problems” that require “immediate solution” and described the bilateral relations between the two countries as being “very good.” Their meeting, he said, was arranged when Allon was travelling in Central America and he invited the Israeli leader to lunch in Washington as a “good chance to discuss ideas.”
“We have no specific problems,” on which the two countries have to make a decision, Allon said. When a reporter asked him whether the Israeli proposal for progress in Middle East diplomacy was “gimmickry” for the current Presidential campaign in the United States, Allon retorted, “If it’s a gimmick let us put it to a test at the conference table.”
Asked whether the rise of Moslem military power in Lebanon constituted a threat to Israel, Allon said “it depends to what it will lead.” Israel, he said, will not interfere in the domestic affairs of Lebanon. Asked whether Israel was threatened by the instability in Lebanon, Allon replied: “If Israel can be praised for something it may be for her contribution to the relative stability of Lebanon by our very existence there.” Allon left here for London and returned to Israel last night.
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.
