The attempt now being made by Arab leaders in Washington and in London to pressure the United States and British governments into forcing Israel to return to partition boundaries of 1947 is being watched here with utmost caution.
Special attention is paid to the manipulations now being made in this respect by Iraq’s statesman Nuri as-Said, who was received yesterday by President Eisenhower and who conferred twice with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles within the last few days. The Iraqi leader has been trying to sell to the State Department the idea that Washington should take the initiative in forcing Israel to return to the 1947 boundaries, otherwise Soviet Russia would do it.
Israeli circles today voiced a warning to the Western governments that any of them giving currency to Arab-fostered talks about forcing Israel to make territorial concessions is actually engaged in increasing tension in the Middle East. They made it clear that neither the West nor its allies can benefit from such increased tension.
The same circles indicated that there is no evidence here of a Soviet plan to force a “settlement” of the Arab-Israel conflict by proposing a return of Israel to the 1947 partition boundaries. Suspicion prevails here that the British Government is at least a partial author of the “information” reported by Mr. as-Said that Egypt and Syria have been promised full Soviet support for an attack against Israel next year and that such an attack could be prevented only if the Western Powers will force Israel to give up certain parts of its territory for the benefit of the Arabs.
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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.
