Israel Sees Conventional Weapons, Not Nuclear, As Mid-east Issue

The important factor regarding disarmament in the Middle East concerns not atomic weapons — which do not exist in the area — but conventional weapons, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol told the Knesset (Parliament) here today.

Mr. Eshkol made that statement in replying to a question in the house based on an interview carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation with Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, in which the latter discussed international supervision over atomic reactors.

Nasser, said Mr. Eshkol, has not yet agreed to such nuclear reactor supervision. But, even if he should agree to such supervision in the atomic field, the important issue concerns conventional armaments. There is little point, Mr. Eshkol declared, in discussing atomic weapons which do not exist in the region, instead of conventional weapons which do exist and pose a threat to the area’s peace. Atomic disarmament, he continued, may follow, once an agreement is reached on conventional weapons.