Israel proposes to pursue resolutely the implementation of the U.N. Security Council’s directive that Egypt lift its anti-Israel blockade at the Suez Canal, Ambassador Abba Eban told a press conference at the Israel consulate here last night. Mr. Eban revealed that he had opened preliminary discussions on the question of implementation of the Council resolution with Assistant Secretary of State George C. McGhee.
He said that the impression he had received, which jibed with the impression gotten by other Israeli diplomats, was that the powers concerned in the case proposed to use their influence to the fullest extent to see that the order was complied with.
Ambassador Eban expressed the view that a primary significance of the Council action lay in the complete unanimity of U.N. opinion that the Israel complaint was a just one. He pointed out that no one had spoken in favor of a restrictive policy at the Canal. Another important aspect of the Council resolution, Mr. Eban said, was its complete rejection of the Egyptian doctrine of belligerence and boycott. Its logical implication was that there should be peace in the Middle East; he pointed out.
He told reporters that the Council decision was one of three recent events that had helped to strengthen U.S. Israel relations. Another was the signing of the Israeli-American friendship and commerce treaty. He noted that this was the first such treaty signed by Israel, and he expressed the hope that it would have a favorable effect on investment in Israel because it accorded “most favored” nation treatment to nationals of the two countries.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
