Eshkol Warns on Possibility of New Arab Moves Against Israel

Premier Levi Eshkol declared in Parliament today that the “so-called moderate Arabs” might be planning new moves against Israel. The Premier said he wanted to remind all Israeli villages of the need for greater vigilance.

His warning indicated that he was skeptical about Egyptian President Nasser’s speech in Cairo yesterday that the Arabs should not go to war against Israel because they were not yet ready for a successful attack. Nasser’s statement was denounced today in Syria by Lt. Amin el-Hafez, the Syrian President, who said in a statement widely publicized, that Syria would reject any “solution” of the “Palestinian problem” which did not provide for the “elimination” of Israel. He also assailed the Arab unified command, calling it ineffective.

It became known here today that Syria had submitted a detailed plan to “liberate Palestine” at the Arab Premier’s conference, in Cairo last week, which called for opening of all Arab fronts with Israel and set a timetable for the destruction of Israel. Details of the plan were not disclosed. It would have meant ending the patrol of United Nations Emergency Force troops from the Israeli-Egyptian border. They have been on duty since the 1956 Suez campaign.

While Nasser’s speech in Cairo was termed by the Syrian Government as “shelving the liberation of Palestine,” it was welcomed in Jordan. The Government-controlled Jordanian press praised Nasser’s “restraint and frankness.” The daily AI Manar called Nasser “a responsible leader” and declared that such leaders did not mislead their people with “fanciful” pictures of having defeated Israel.