The Soviet Government was charged last night by Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett with attempting to undermine Israel’s existence by supplying arms to Egypt. At the same time, Mr. Sharett emphasized that contrary to reports in the foreign press, Israel does not contemplate a “preventive war.”
The Israel Foreign Minister made these statements in a nation-wide television interview. He was critical of the suggestion for “compromise” on the Israel-Egyptian boundaries proposed by Sir Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister, and had nothing favorable to say on a proposal by Adlai Stevenson that a United Nations international force keep the peace along the Israel-Egyptian frontier. Such a force, he stated, would not be able to prevent infiltration of marauders who commit sabotage, murder and robbery in Israel. He did express agreement with the proposal on Arab refugees voiced last August by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
Mr. Sharett expressed the hope that the United States would grant Israel the defensive arms requests which will be forwarded to Washington. He insisted that Israel is determined not to start a war and that the concept of a “preventive war” is one built up about Israel in the foreign press. He denied that Israel has more arms than the Arab countries and said that even before the Czech-Egyptian arms deal, Egypt was better armed than Israel. However, he added, it is true that Israel is superior in morale and spirit than the Arab lands.
The Israel statesman emphasized that Israel is willing to sit down with the Arabs at a peace table to discuss various problems raised by either side, but will not make concessions in advance of a peace conference. “Before there is any certainty whatsoever that a peace conference, peace negotiations will eventuate, our proclaiming in advance a readiness to make certain concessions will merely result in the prejudicing of our position and further encourage unjustified appetites for the Arabs to keep up their pressure in order to wring greater concessions from us,” he declared.
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