In the name of the UAR [United Arab Republic, the short-lived union between
Egypt and Syria] people, I thank the people of the USSR for their great attitude which
is the attitude of a real friend. This is the kind of attitude that we expect. I said yes-
terday that we had not requested the USSR or any other State to intervene because
we really want to avoid any confrontation which might lead to a world war and also
because we really work for peace and advocate world peace. When we voiced the pol-
icy of non-alignment, our chief aim was world peace.
Brothers, we will work for world peace with all the power at our disposal, but we
will also hold tenaciously to our rights with all the power at our disposal. This is our
course. On this occasion, I address myself to our brothers in Aden and say: Although
occupied with this battle, we have not forgotten you. We are with you. We have not
forgotten the struggle of Aden and the occupied South for liberation. Aden and the
occupied South must be liberated and colonialism must end. We are with them; pres-
ent matters have not taken our minds from Aden.
I thank you for taking the trouble to pay this visit. Moreover, your presence is an
honour to the Qubbah Palace, and I am pleased to have met you. Peace be on you.
SOURCE:Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Middle East/North Africa, “29 May Nasir Speech to National
Assembly Members,” May 31, 1967, pp. B6-B8.DOCUMENT
Abba Eban’s Statement to the
UN Security Council
JUNE6, 1967[In the opening portions of his remarks, Eban reviewed the events leading up to the outbreak
of the June 1967 War, emphasizing what he called acts of “sabotage” against Israel by Syria,
Egypt’s denial of Israeli access to the Strait of Tiran, and the deployment of Arab armies along
Israel’s borders.]
- These then were the three main elements in the tension: the sabotage movement;
the blockade of the port; and, perhaps more imminent than anything else, this vast
and purposeful encirclement movement, against the background of an authorized pres-
idential statement announcing that the objective of the encirclement was to bring
about the destruction and the annihilation of a sovereign State. - These acts taken together—the blockade, the dismissal of the United Nations
Emergency Force, and the heavy concentration in Sinai—effectively disrupted the sta-
tus quowhich had ensured a relative stability on the Egyptian-Israel frontier for ten
years. I do not use the words “relative stability” lightly, for in fact while those ele-
ments in the Egyptian-Israel relationship existed there was not one single incident of
violence between Egypt and Israel for ten years. But suddenly this status quo, this pat-
100 ARABS AND ISRAELIS