The revolution and pacts (96). ‘The Dirty Border War'. Sinai raids. 8- ‘Not the first time'. The Egyptian Gazette of November 4, 1955 also used its ‘From the Arabic Press' corner to further expose the ‘fake' peace offer made by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. Under a straightforward headline: “Incredible Statement" by Ben Gurion, it quoted the Cairo daily Al-Gomhouria as saying: “Ben Gurion, the old Israeli terrorist, made an incredible statement yesterday alleging that Israel wants peace with the Arabs. This is perhaps the strongest allegation the world has heard in the last few days. Israel, which has been a menace to peace since it came into existence, demands peace. “Ben Gurion is only making a further attempt at deceiving the Western Powers by giving them the false impression that Israel wants peace and that the Arabs want war. Ben Guriion, who violated the United Nations resolutions and disregarded international agreements and committed the most aggressive crimes in Palestine, wants peace....We wonder whether or not the Western Powers will believe what he said. “The United Nations Organisation regards itself responsible for ensuring world peace; but it has enforced no measures against Israel, although the whole world knows of Israel's repeated violations of the UN resolutions. “Ben Gurion may talk about anything except peace..... Reviewing his government's programme before the Knesset, he expressed his readiness to meet Prime Minister Gamal Abdul Nasser and other Arab leaders to discuss the question of concluding a peace agreement between Israel and the Arabs. He pointed out that of the Arab states refused talks for peace, he would like to discuss other questions such as the economic blockade imposed by the Arab countries against Israel and matters relating to the freedom of navigation. “That was not the first time that Israeli statesmen have expressed their willingness to have talks with the Arabs. The former Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Moshe Sharett, said the same thing a few weeks ago. However, Sharett's request was not entertained by any of the Arab leaders; we are also certain that Ben Gurion's request will not receive any attention from any of the Arab governments. “To our surprise, news reports from Geneva said that Western statesmen had expressed their satisfaction at the proposal made by Ben Gurion, as if the latter had made a serious offer worth discussion. “It is ridiculous that Ben Gurion expects the Arab countries to accept discussing the question of economic blockade and shipping restrictions imposed by the Arab countries against Israel before settling all other problems caused by Zionist aggression in Palestine. “In his speech, Ben Gurion made no reference to the UN resolutions concerning the partition of Palestine, the repatriation of Palestine Arab refugees and the internationalisation of Jerusalem. He did not say whether or not Israel has any intention of complying with these resolutions. “Obviously, he wanted to make a further attempt at misleading international public opinion. He knows that his offer will be rejected, but he wants to give the impression that he wants peace, and that he would like to discuss peace with the Arab leaders. He also wants to give the impression that Egypt and the Arab countries are buying arms for aggression because they object to having peace talks with Israel. In other words, he attempts to direct world sympathy towards Israel. “If the Western Powers believe that Ben Gurion's offer is a further attempt at concluding peace with the Arabs, they should also know that such attempts will be ignored by the Arabs so long as the United Nations remain disregarded. The Western Powers should know that because they had failed to persuade the Arab countries to accept peace talks with Israel, they have therefore committed a mistake by supporting Ben Gurion's statement. “An Israeli MP from the opposition told Ben Gurion that his request to meet Prime Minister Gamal Abdul Nasser and other Arab leaders would be neglected by the Arab governments. He added that his speech was only an attempt to gain further aid from the Western Powers." [email protected]
