Abba Eban, Israel’s permanent U.N. delegate, told an American radio audience tonight that the real trouble in the Middle East stemmed not from periodic border flare-up such as the current Israel-Syrian dispute, but from the long-term fact that Israel is encircled by hostile states who refuse to establish a permanent peace. This situation, he said, must come to an end, and he asked why do not these states sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Mr. Eban asserted that the region of the Huleh marshes whose draining has caused the Syrian Government to complain to the Security Council was included in the original U.N. partition scheme and was a part of Israel when the state was proclaimed. He said that the armistice agreement in no way forbids civilian development in a demilitarized zone of this area. He added that U.N. truce supervisor General William E. Riley agreed with this but a difference arose between Israel and Gen. Riley on the question of the authority of the armistice commission chairman in the demilitarized zone.
He labelled as “sheer nonsense” a charge made on the same radio program last week by Syrian U.N. delegate Faris el Khouri Bey, that a map hung on the walls of the Israel parliament showing Israeli territory extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. Denying that such a map existed, he declared that Israel’s interest was not in the Euphrates but in the Jordan.
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