Abba Eban, Israel’s Foreign Minister, disagrees with those who view last week’s new, Syrian-Egyptian military treaty as a positive development that would contribute toward peace on Israel’s border with Syria.
Evaluating the foreign affairs situation before a meeting of the Cabinet here, late last night, Mr. Eban said that Syria’s recent actions in encouraging and not halting terrorist raids into Israel were the result of the internal situation inside Syria.
(Iraq today pledged support to Syria against Israel although no formal pact exists between Syria and Iraq. In a broadcast over Radio Baghdad, Iraqi President Abdel Rahman Aref said Iraq would “rush to the aid” of Syria in event of military action by Israel. The Iraqi President said he regarded Iraq as a member of the military accord reached last week between Egypt and Syria.)
Mr. Eban also discussed with the Cabinet the results of last week’s action in the United Nations Security Council, where only a Soviet veto prevented adoption of a resolution — approved by 10 of the Council’s 15 members — linking Syria with the terrorist raids. He called Israel’s move in taking the issue to the Security Council “successful,” resulting in important moral backing for Israel’s accusations against Syria.
The Cabinet meeting took under consideration the budget for the next fiscal year, presented by the Treasury, calling for expenditures totaling about $1,667,000,000, an 8 percent increase over the current budget. The Cabinet, which will vote on the budget in the next two weeks, noted that almost the entire increase in the Government’s expenditures during the fiscal year to begin next April 1 will go for development, and that no rise is expected in the ordinary budget.
At the Cabinet session a ministerial committee was named to inquire into the proposals for raising tuition fees in Israel’s universities and other institutions of higher learning. Students who are opposing the tuition increases called a one day general strike last week in protest against those proposals.
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