Eshkol Opens Talks with British Prime Minister on Variety of Subjects

Discussion on a wide variety of subjects concerning Israel was started here today by Israel’s Premier Levi Eshkol in a talk with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson which lasted more than an hour. The talk continued later when the two Prime Ministers were joined by their aides.

It is understood that the topics covered during the talk–which was described as very frank and cordial–included the Israel-Arab Jordan River water diversion controversy, general security, the current Middle East situation with special reference to approaching West German-Israel diplomatic ties, and Anglo-Israel economic cooperation.

The participants in the second part of the talks were Israel Ambassador Arthur Lourie; Aviad Yafen, the Premier’s aide, Ehud Avriel and Dr. Yaacov Herzog, deputy directors-general of the Israel Foreign Minister; George Thomson, Secretary of State of the British Foreign Office and several other high British officials.

At a luncheon tendered by Prime Minister Wilson to the Israel Premier, the British Prime Minister stressed in his speech of welcome the friendship between Britain and Israel. He recalled his visit to Israel and welcomed the opportunity for a “basic exchange of views.” In reply, Premier Eshkol said that Israel had absorbed much of the British legal and political system and had an abiding respect for British culture and thought, which was reflected in Israel’s political institutions.

He added that his talks with Prime Minister Wilson had renewed and strengthened his respect and confidence in Britain’s moral leadership in world affairs. He said that Anglo-Israel relations had had their “ups and downs” but the Israelis preferred to remember the kindness of early days such as those of the Balfour Declaration. They also recalled, he added, the sympathy and support which wide segments of the British people have always shown to Zionism and Israel, at the present time, he stated, those relations rested on the solid foundations built up over the years and it was his hope that these relations would be further strengthened by his current visit.

SAYS ISRAEL’S CENTRAL PROBLEM IS LACK OF PEACE WITH ARAB LANDS

Premier Eshkol later lauded Mr. Wilson’s friendship for Israel when he spoke at a dinner tonight given for him by Ambassador Lourie. Declaring he had been “deeply moved” by the warm reception he had received, Mr. Eshkol said that Mr. Wilson’s friendship for Israel had “been a source of deep satisfaction to our people and I have been happy to learn at first hand that, amidst his vast preoccupations, the hope for peace in the Middle East is always in his thoughts, his incisive mind ever searching for avenues for the relaxation of tensions in our area.”

He declared that the lessons of the European tragedy were indelibly engraved on the memory of the Jewish people and the citizens of Israel. They were determined that never again would the Jewish people be helpless and homeless, he added. He noted that in less than 17 years, more than 1,200,000 immigrants had entered Israel, about half of them survivors of the Nazi death camps and the other half refugees from the Arab countries.

“Our central problem,” he continued, “is the lack of peace with cur neighbors. In defiance of the United Nations decision of 1947 and of the United Nations charter, our Arab neighbors continue to threaten our destruction and to reject our outstretched hand of peace. In these circumstances, we are compelled to divert much of our national resources to the task of defense, though our aim is not to win a but to prevent it.”

Prior to the meetings with Mr. Wilson, the visiting Israeli Premier met with George Brown, Deputy British Premier and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. The two men had a 45-minute talk on a wide range of economic and financial issues.

Mr. Eshkol reportedly told Mr. Brown that, while Israel continues to be Britain’s biggest customer in the Middle East trade, the trade balance between the two countries was adverse against Israel. He called this an unsatisfactory situation even among friends. The British leader said he understood the problem and promised to seek ways to improve the situation.