Foreign Minister Abba Eban told the United States and French ambassadors today that their countries, along with the other two Big Powers–Britain and the Soviet Union–had complicated the Middle East situation rather than improved it. Mr. Eban met separately with U.S. Ambassador Walworth Barbour and the French envoy, Francis Hure, at the Foreign Minister’s initiative. Mr. Eban reportedly said that the recent warlike statements by Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the forthcoming Arab summit conference at Rabat, Morocco were the inevitable outcome of the Big Powers’ attempts to work out their own solution of the Middle East conflict.
According to Mr. Eban, the Arabs hoped that someone would extricate them from the position they found themselves in after the Six-Day War. He said that hope was bolstered by the Big Powers and by assurances of continuing support from the Soviet Union which expressed itself in material terms by the build-up of Arab armed forces. Mr. Eban claimed that it should be apparent to all that the Four Power and Two Power talks on the Mideast had only complicated matters. He said there can be no solution unless the Arabs are brought face to face with Israel and accept and recognize her existence.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
