The Foreign Ministry charged today that the United States State Department was unjustified in equating Defense Minister Moshe Dayan’s talk of a “permanent” Israeli regime in the occupied Arab territories with the statement by Egypt, Libya and Syria barring negotiations and peace with Israel. State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey said yesterday in Washington that the Arab Federation statement was “equally unfortunate in the same sense about which we commented about Minister Dayan’s statement last Friday.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Avraham Avidar said today: “We are sorry to say that these statements (by McCloskey) create the wrong impression.” He explained: “The speech by the Defense Minister to which the State Department spokesman referred was an evaluation of the situation and expression of a point of view not meant to change the decisions of the Cabinet. In contrast, the Damascus statement is an official announcement by three Arab Presidents which confirms the draft Constitution of the future Federation. The Damascus statement details political principles and goals of the Federation, and therefore it is a grave matter that it emphasizes there will be no peace and no negotiations with Israel.”
Avidar stated further that McCloskey in his remarks yesterday, had not taken into account Dayan’s clarification of his speech, in a radio address Sunday. Dayan said then that he had not proposed annexation of the administered areas but did feel that certain projects should not be delayed or cancelled pending a Middle East settlement. Dayan stressed that the Israeli government had not changed its view on this matter. “The second State Department statement disregards, for some reason, these clarifications,” Avidar protested. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned that the text of Avidar’s complaint has been submitted to the American charge d’affairs here. Owen Zurhellen. In addition, Israel’s grave view of the Damascus statement is being conveyed to Israeli ambassadors around the world. Israel’s United Nations envoy, Yosef Tekoah, may also alert Secretary General Thant to the points in the statement that Israel contends violate Security Council Resolution 242 of Nov. 22, 1967.
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