The root of the evil in the Gaza strip situation is Egypt’s repeated contention that it is still at war with Israel an authoritative Israel source declared here today during an expose of the Gaza situation. The source noted that Egypt had relied heavily on this contention to bolster its Suez Canal blockade of Israel.
The source maintained that Israel’s demand for negotiations on a higher level does not necessarily mean a high political level. Israel is aware that such a demand may be interpreted by Egypt as pressure for peace negotiations, which Israel wholeheartedly wants, but Israel is realistic enough to understand the impossibility of such a desire.
Higher level talks actually mean, he stressed talks between people who carry enough weight with their governments to shape certain policies instead of running back and forth for instructions. He revealed that the demand for such talks were favored by United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold UN truce chief Major Gen. E. L. M. Burns and the United States and Britain.
Israel he continued, will not object to any agenda for such a meeting that might be worked out by Gen. Burns not even the proposal for a demilitarized zone and for mixed patrols, despite Israel’s feeling in the light of past experience that such zones do not contribute to the safety of personnel and that mixed patrols will not contribute toward quiet unless the Egyptian Premier changes his orders to his troops.
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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.
