ABSTRACT
The military-political clash between Israel and Syria in the spring of 1951 over Israel's draining of the Hula Valley also created an atmosphere of tension between the sides. In Egypt, the largest and most important Arab state, nationalism was on the rise, accompanied by an anti-western and anti-Israeli mood. During the last third of October, the Conciliation Commission began, with American support, to pressure Israel to discuss topics other than the nonaggression issue. On 21 September, Fischer submitted Israel's reply to the opening declaration, and immediately afterwards he was given the commission's working paper. During the 19 September cabinet meeting, in the absence of Foreign Minister Sharett the director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Walter Eytan, presented to the cabinet an overview of developments at the Paris Conference. The commission decided to use the data at the Arab-Israeli conference convened in Paris in the fall of 1951.
