In the present circumstances, Premier David Ber Gurion can hardly hope for favorable response to his plea to America and the Soviet Union to help reduce tension in the Middle East and to the Arabs to bury the hatchet, The Times of London said today in an editorial comment on Mr. Ben Gurion’s foreign policy report to the Knesset at its opening session yesterday.
The Knesset postponed its debate on Israel’s foreign policy today when, because of illness. Foreign Minister Colda Meir was unable to attend the session and make her scheduled report on developments at the United Nations and her talks in Washington and Rome. The general debate on foreign policy was to have followed this report.)
The editorial noted that if Russia were determined to stake a claim to a permanent place in the Middle East, then it would have to “recognize that solution of the Arab-Israel quarrel is a prerequisite of peace. It will be of little use to anybody if the dust over Syria is settled and this fact is still dodged. Some international guarantee against aggression from either side should be aimed at a first step.”
As far as Israel is concerned, the editorial declared, the basic situation continues to look uncomfortable but immediate military danger is not ranked very high. “It is, rather, the long-term implications that the Middle East is becoming the main battleground in the cold war that is disquieting. It has become the battleground since Russia took a hand in the region’s feuds and rivalries and in the bitterest feud of all–the Arab-Israel quarrel-espoused the Arab cause.”
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.
