Gen. Yigai Allon, the Israeli Minister of Labor, told American Jewish leaders at a conference here that Israel will “be spending more for armaments in the next two-year period that we did in the decade between the Sinai campaign of 1956 and the Six-Day War last June.” He said that 70 percent of Israel’s income was being diverted to defense purposes.
Gen. Allon, a hero of Israel’s war for liberation in 1948, spoke at a banquet tendered in his honor by the Western Region leadership conference of the United Jewish Appeal Saturday night. He said that in view of his nation’s tremendous defense burden, “we in Israel appreciate and are grateful for the generous aid that we received from the Jews of America through the United Jewish Appeal’s Israel Emergency Fund. Edward Ginsberg, of Cleveland, general chairman of the UJA, warned at the same affair that there can be no let up on the need and urgency of the Emergency Fund in 1968 because of the Arab states’ attitude of “no negotiations and no peace” with Israel.
Gen. Allon devoted much of his address to a analysis of Israel’s relations with Egypt whose president, Nasser, was taken prisoner by Gen. Allon during the 1948-49 war. He said that “despite our bitter disappointment with Nasser, we in Israel still believe that he is first and foremost an Egyptian patriot who wants to see his country retain the independence he fought for in his time.” In that light, Gen. Allon predicted, Nasser is bound to realize that the ever increasing presence of Russian advisors and technicians in Egypt, backed by large Russian naval units in Egyptian ports, poses a threat to Egypt’s independence.
The speaker reiterated Israel’s desire for peace with all of her neighbors and said that toward that end Israel is prepared to negotiate with the Arab countries individually or collectively. He said both Israel and Egypt would benefit from a peace treaty because it would permit them to divert the huge sums they are spending for armaments to much needed social services and economic development.
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