Arab League

Extract

The Council of the Arab League, meeting in Cairo on October I, sent congratulations to Premier Nasser of Egypt on his armaments purchase agreement with Czechoslovakia. The period subsequent to the announcement of the agreement was regarded as one of heightened tension between the Arab states and Israel. On November 9, Prime Minister Anthony Eden (United Kingdom) declared that his government would like to assist Israel and the Arab states toreach a settlement of their differences. If those nations wanted to attain peace, he stated, they would have tomake some compromise on their positions; the Arab states based their claims on the 1947 and other UN resolutions, while the Israel position was founded on the Armistice Agreement of 1949 and on the territory they currently occupied. In the view of the Prime Minister, it would be possible to bridge the gap between the two positions through negotiations, and he stated that if a mutually acceptable boundary arrangement were reached, the United Kingdom and perhaps other powers would be prepared to give a formal guarantee to both sides. The Arab League Political Committee on November 13 considered the Eden proposals, and although no conclusive information as to its view of the proposals was made public, it was reported that Egyptian Premier Nasser welcomed them. The reaction in Israel, however, was reported to be highly unfavorable, the Israel view being that the territorial changes proposed by the Prime Minister included cession to Egypt of a large part of the Negev and of the port of Elath on the Gulf of Akaba.