Foreign Minister Abba Eban will go to Cyprus tomorrow to resume contacts with United Nations emissary Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring. He will also meet President Makarios and Foreign Minister Spyros Kyprianou of Cyprus in what is believed to be a move to improve relations between Israel and that island nation. The announcement that Mr. Eban will meet the Cypriot leaders came as a surprise. President Makarios denounced Israel as an aggressor right after the June, 1967 War and Cyprus has followed a consistently anti-Israel stand at the UN since then. In recent months the Cypriot position on Israel has softened and Nicosia has made some tentative approaches to Israel for improved relations. The island’s tourist trade slumped seriously after Israelis stopped visiting what had been a favorite vacation resort. Israel maintains an embassy in Nicosia but no Cypriot Ambassador has been sent to Israel, and this question is believed to be a point that Mr. Eban will raise with Cypriot leaders.
In his talks with Dr. Jarring, Mr. Eban is expected to renew his request that a direct conference be arranged between Israeli and Arab representatives. He will also repeat his request for an Egyptian reply to questions that Israel submitted to Cairo through Dr. Jarring at the UN. One asks Egypt if it agrees that a “just and lasting peace” should be concluded with Israel and what its definition is of such peace. Dr. Jarring will fly to Cairo and other Arab capitals later this week.
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