RESTRICTED BRITISH EMBASSY; (1/2) KUWAIT. --- RECEIVED INARCHIV No 518 JV100BK118 10 June, 1968 Dear Alee, 5 June, 1968, in Kuwait Kuwait observed the first anniversary of the beginning ofthe Arab-Israeli war of 1967 quietly. Business was as usual,no extra polise or soldiers were apparent and we have heard noreports of anti-British or anti-American incidents. H019 2. The only"official" commemoration of the occasion came inthe shape of statements issued by Sheikh Sa'ad al Abdullah, theMinister of the Interior and Defence, and Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad,the Foreign Minister. Sheikh Sa'ad reaffirmed Kuwait's standin the Arab ranks, said the Kuwait Army would remain in thevanguard of those defending the Arab race - presumably areference to the contingent in Sinai - and expressed admirationfor the Palestinian fida'iyin. Sheikh Sabah said that what hadhappened on 5 June last year need not have happened if the Arabshad used goodwill, brotherliness and self-denial towards oneanother, had taken Arab solidarity as their basis of action andhad had no goal but the defeat of the enemy and the restorationof Arab rights in Palestine. The greatest outcome of thesetback had perhaps been the affirmation that Arab solidarity wasthe effective way to regain Arab dignity: at Khartoum it hadbeen stated that the regaining of the occupied territories wasthe responsibility of all the Arab states. Since the setback,the Arabs had reconsidered how best to publicise the Arab cause.as a result of which opinion in the west had recently undergonea change. But final victory depended on unified action. 3. The press on 5 June naturally made the anniversary the solesubject of editorial comment. Al Rai al 'Amm said that if theArabs ever became tired of counting the years since the setback,Israel's attacks would give them a daily chance to start again.King Hussain, President Nasser and President Atassi were all todeploy their rhetoric on 5 June: on such a day, when Israelhad deployed troops, more talk was disgusting. Al Siyasa saidthe June war had not been a surprise, since everyone knew it wasgoing to take place, nor a setback, because people who do notwork hard have no right to feel disappointed if their negligenceresults in defeat. Nor had it been a lesson, for clearly theArabs had learnt nothing from it. The Arab information mediawere occupying the public mind with a smokescreen out of whichwas emerging the trend to a "peaceful settlement. This wouldnot settle the Palestine issue, but the problems of the countriesbordering Israel. Akhbar al Kuwait (pro U.A.R.) attributed thesetback to indifference, incompetence, carelessness, hypocrisy,small-mindedness and individualism. Al Talia (whose A.N.M.sympathies presumably colour its attitude to the present SyrianGovernment) laid the blame on the bourgeois class, which hadprovided the Arab leadership last June. This class, "whichexploited the people's confidence in President Nasser", was the LAST PAPER 28 Vcause en Mi Posthach blazili A. Ibbott, Esq.,Arabian Department, Foreign Office. Kasten RESTRICTED
