President Nasser of the United Arab Republic, continuing a policy of avoiding a direct mention of Israel by name during his state visit to India, cited the existence of the Jewish State today as one of the reasons he was opposed to general disarmament.
Speaking before the Indian Parliament, He said it was not enough to raise banners carrying the slogan of “demilitarization.” He said if disarmament “is to have any value at all, we must remedy the causes that sometimes impose on certain people the carrying of arms.”
He said no better proof could be offered than “two cases” in his own area, the Middle East. The first was the case “of the Palestine people driven out of their homes, their land usurped, their property looted, their future destroyed and their basic right to life denied.” The second was that of Algeria.
While the UAR leader has so far refrained from denouncing Israel by name, the UAR mission in New Delhi has been disseminating large quantities of anti-Israel propaganda material.
It was reported here today that Nasser told Prime Minister Nehru that “undue importance” was being given to Israel’s right of transit in the Suez Canal, The UAR leader was reported to have made that response when Premier Nehru raised the question of the UAR blockade of the Suez Canal to Israel shipping.
Nasser also was reported to have said that no heed was being given to United Nations resolutions on Palestine, particularly those requiring Israel to give the Palestinian Arab refugees a choice between repatriation to Israel and compensation for abandoned property.
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