Acting Secretary of State George W. Ball, acting at the direction of President Johnson, today scolded the ambassadors of 13 Arab nations who were summoned to the State Department because of an insulting press release issued yesterday warning the United States on its conduct in relation to the visit of Israel Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.
In an unprecedented move, the White House and State Department went into action to challenge the breach of protocol. One high official said the Arab joint statement here was comparable only to a situation that might have taken place had the American ambassador in Cairo warned President Nasser on the sort of hospitality to be extended to Soviet Premier Khrushchev. He said such intercession would have been unacceptable to Nasser and that Arab actions here were equally intolerable.
Mr. Ball, it was learned, told the Arab envoys that their warning of yesterday on the Eshkol visit was unacceptable and amounted to a breach of protocol and propriety. An official State Department announcement said that Mr. Ball summoned the Arab ambassadors to pursue with them the statement issued here yesterday by the Arabs pertaining to the visit of Mr. Eshkol.
The Arab diplomats emerged from Mr. Ball’s office in an annoyed and unhappy mood. They declined to respond directly to press questioning and immediately left the State Department. Ambassador Mostafa Kamal, of Egypt, spokesman for the group, declined to comment on the Arab statement of yesterday and said it spoke for itself. He refused to comment further on the Eshkol visit.
The Arab joint propaganda move had warned the United States that Mr. Eshkol is seeking munitions and a security guarantee, objectives which the Arabs warned would undermine American-Arab relations. The statement accused Mr. Eshkol, official guest of the White House, of exploiting pre-election atmosphere to push in Washington for arms and a new mutual security arrangement. The Arab statement cautioned that concessions to Eshkol meant “dangers” to the future course of American relations with the 13 Arab states. The Arab states all receive various forms of assistance from the United States.
A previous joint move by the 13 Arab ambassadors took place prior to the Eshkol visit when the group called on Secretary of State Dean Rusk. The Egyptian Ambassador the same day met with President Johnson. It was learned that on these previous occasions the Arabs were more moderate and less threatening in their approach. By yesterday, however, the inflammatory Arab statement went beyond bounds tolerable by the White House and State Department resulting in the unusual and firm action by Mr. Ball.
If the Arabs now persist after the warning, the United States has the diplomatic right to declare the offending ambassadors persona non grata and order them out of the country.
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