The statements issued by Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, calling for peace talks between the Arab states and Israel, have “disrupted the Arab summit atmosphere,” the daily newspaper El Hayat, of Beirut, declared today. Bourguiba’s peace proposals, said the newspaper, “pose the question whether Lebanon can risk the dangers inherent in the continuation of the Jordan River water diversion plans, while it is left without Arab backing.”
While these fears were being voiced openly in Beirut, however, Lebanese tractors today resumed their water diversion work near Israel’s border. Earlier reports from Lebanon claimed that the tractors were being used for building only an irrigation project. A report broadcast today by Radio Damascus stated that the Arab League Water Diversion Board has decided that work on the diversion projects “be carried out in accordance with the schedule.”
Arab fears regarding the Bourguiba stand continued to be voiced in the Cairo press, where concern was indicated that Saudi Arabia, Libya and Morocco may be siding silently with the Tunisian president. Al Goumhouria, the influential Cairo daily, asked pointedly, in a lengthy feature article denouncing the proposals by Bourguiba: “Does silence on the part of Morocco,! Libya and Saudi Arabia imply consent on their part?”
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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.
