File 2 - Interviews and Conversations from Middle East Visit

1 file

Included in this series are some press cuttings relating to the Middle East. Three articles are reports written in 1966 from the Guardian on Suez ten years after the Suez crisis during which the Guardian was critical of British government actions. They include an interview conducted by Alastair Hetherington with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic. The fourth press cutting is an article from the Daily Telegraph written in 1969 which discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the Egyptian military.
The main part of this series consists of typescripts of 'confidential' notes taken by Hetherington shortly before and after, as well as during, a Middle East visit, December 1969-December 1970. The notes are from interviews Hetherington undertook in Cairo, Jerusalem, Ginosar, and London. He sought to understand the attitudes of the the Israelis and the Arabs and to discover whether there was any common ground for a settlement between them of the ongoing dispute concerning the territory surrounding the Suez canal. The typescripts include Hetherington's notes on meetings with: Abba Eban, Israeli Foreign Minister; Dr Esmat Meguid, Spokesman for the Egyptian Government; Muhammad Hasanain Haikal, editor-in chief of Al-Ahram; George Brown; Dr Aziz Sidqui; British Defence and Air attaches; Geoffrey Arthur, Under-secretary, Middle Eastern Department; Ygal Allon; Yaacov Hertzog, Director-general of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem; Gideon Raphael, Director-general of the Foriegn Office in Jerusalem; and Michael Comay, Israeli Ambassador.
Creator: Guardian Newspapers Limited; Editor's Office; Alastair Hetherington

Chronological

Relevant sections of Alastair Hetherington's Guardian Years, HRL/9.