Increased American and British diplomatic activity in Cairo, Amman and Tel Aviv is concerned with attempts at bringing about a peace treaty between Israel and the Arab states, the London press reported today.
The same dispatch asserted that the Arab League meeting, which opens in Cairo September 10, will discuss in detail the reported negotiations between Egyptian and Jordanian representatives on a Jordan-Egyptian peace settlement with Israel. Jordan is expected to propose to the Arab League meeting that negotiations be opened immediately between the Arab states and Israel. Egypt is expected to support the Jordan move, the dispatch said.
The arrangement whereby the United States agreed to supply Israel with arms and to help Israel strengthen its military, naval and air bases and Israel’s decision to extend military service from 24 to 30 months are all indications that American military experts look on Israel as a party to the projected Middle East defense plan, the report added. It stressed that Arab-Israel tensions must be eliminated before the Jewish State’s strategic possibilities could be developed.
It was asserted in the dispatch that the importance of the Haifa oil refinery to the Middle East’s defense is largely responsible for the pressure which Allied spokesmen are exercising on Egypt for a quick settlement. So vital is this problem, the report said, that if the discussions for a peace settlement are prolonged the problem of oil supplies for the Haifa refineries–via the Suez Canal and the Iraq-Haifa pipeline–will be dealt with immediately.
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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.