Abba Eban, Israel’s Foreign Minister, who is flying to the United States on Wednesday, told the Daily Express, in an interview published today, that he did not regard war between Israel and the Arab states as “inevitable.” “It is just as unlikely that there will be general peace, either,” he added.
Mr. Eban was questioned specifically about Israel’s recent raid on the Jordanian village for which she was last week censured by the United Nations Security Council. He replied that Israeli troops had hit the Jordanian village of Samua “harder than intended. The fighting and loss of life, he stated, “were beyond what had been expected or planned.”
The plan, he said, was to blow up a few houses in the Jordanian village, which had been used as a base for Arab infiltrators, causing loss of life and property in Israel. “If the Arab Legion,” he continued, “had not arrived, there would have been no loss of life. But developments during the action expanded, and had the effect of expanding the scope of the action and increasing the loss of life. This expansion led to a corresponding escalation of political reactions.”
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