The State Department declined to comment today on charges by President Nasser of Egypt that the United States had been guilty of “diplomatic deceit” last May in making Egypt believe that the Arab-Israeli dispute could be settled without war. Elsewhere in the speech, delivered on the fifteenth anniversary of the expulsion of King Farouk, Nasser said that he was prepared to talk with the Americans at any time on the question of peace in the Middle East.
The main thrust of the Nasser speech, however, was a renewed attack on Israel and an appeal to the Arab masses to organize to fight Israel. He said that “the military struggle will have to be fought not only by the armed forces but by the whole nation,” adding that “we are not inferior to the people of Vietnam.” This part of his speech was interpreted as the threat of Arab guerrilla warfare against Israel.
(In London, Foreign Minister Abba S. Eban of Israel commented today that “Nasser’s speech was one emanating from a conservative mind, a mind steeped in inertia, refusing to see change. He spoke as if the defeat of Egypt in the field was of no importance. This was a speech rooted in pre-June 5th attitudes, based on the world and the philosophy which existed before June 5.”)
The Egyptian-controlled Middle East News Agency reported from Khartoum that the Arab Foreign Ministers will meet in Khartoum August 1, to plan new joint Arab strategy against Israel.
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