Britain’s mediation offer in the Arab-Israel conflict is motivated by the British desire to insure its own corridor through the Negev to Jordan and the Middle East, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver charged tonight, addressing a dinner of the local branch of the Zionist Organization of America.
Dr. Silver declared the Tripartite Agreement of 1950 a failure and called upon the Western Powers to give Israel the assurance of a military alliance. He accused the Arabs of acquiring arms not for defense against Russia, but in preparation for another war against Israel.
“Israel wants no war and no preventive war “Dr. Silver said. “Israel desires no arms race. Israel has no expansionist ambitions; it covets nothing its Arab neighbors possess. But Israel will not purchase peace at the price of reducing its small territory of 8,000 square miles in order to augment the 1,700,000 square miles of Arab territories.” He warned that those who hope to gain Arab allegiance to the West by supplying them with arms would not only aid the Arabs toward that end, but would make the Arab leaders “more intransigent, more ruthless and demanding.”
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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.
