Western Powers Determined to Preserve Israel’s Independence, Dulles Says

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, speaking at a B’nai B’rith dinner here last night, said that the United States, Britain and France “all intend that the State of Israel shall be maintained in its independence.” He revealed that at the conference of the foreign ministers of the 15 countries belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization–which took place last week in Paris-there was recognition that “wide discrepancies in armed strength” between the Arab countries and Israel “would be likely to create dangerous tensions.”

Mr. Dulles said he has no illusion that the Arab-Israel problem would be solved easily. However, he announced that the United States intends “to make progress” and will strive “to maintain the momentum now established by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold” in his current effort to check hostilities on the Arab-Israel borders. He expressed the opinion that reliance should, above all, be placed in the United Nations.

“The members of the NATO Council were a cutely conscious of the problem of maintaining peace in the Middle East.” Mr. Dulles declared “You will recall that when the Palestine mandate came to an end, the United States and other Western nations supported United Nations consideration on the future of Palestine which resulted in the creation of the State of Israel. As members of the United Nations we all intend that the State of Israel shall be maintained in its independence. Also we all want friendly political, cultural and economic relations with all of the nations of the area on a basis of impartiality. We do not believe that the two goals are incompatible.

“I sensed the feeling in Paris, the feeling of grave concern that the Soviet Union had sought to further its ends by playing fast and loose with peace in the area. There was the feeling that that very fact made it more important for the Western nations to act with firm deliberation and with care. There was recognition at Paris that wide discrepancies in armed strength would be likely to create dangerous tensions. There was also a conviction that the safety of the countries of the Middle East is not to be found in an arms race, particularly one which tended to put great world powers against each other.

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“It seemed particularly important to avoid a situation where great military powers confronted each other, by proxy, under conditions which would engage their respective prestiges in a manner ominous for peace, not only within the area but possibly throughout the world. There was a belief-that reliance should, above all, be placed in the processes of the United Nations, and that we can, perhaps, do so now with some what greater confidence, since the Soviet Union seems at least to be increasingly aware of the dangerous consequences of reckless action and has indicated that it, too, would be prepared to support a solution through the United Nations.

“We all welcomed the active part now being taken by the United Nations Security Council to preserve the integrity of the armistice agreements and we are encouraged by the fact that the Secretary General’s mission to the area seems to have produced some initial positive result. We believe that solid reliance can be placed upon the principles of the United Nations Charter and that no nation of the area which conforms internationally with those principles will stand alone. President Eisenhower made it clear, in his statement of April 9, 1956, that so far as the United States is concerned there could not be aggression with impunity.

“Past efforts toward a settlement of the substantive issues in the Middle East have encountered serious obstacles. The task is immensely complex and I have no illusion that solutions will be easily come by. But if progress is difficult it is also necessary, and we intend to make that progress. There are now grounds for hope that it may be possible to maintain the momentum now established by Secretary General Hammarskjold’s current efforts. That I assure you, the United States will strive to do,” Secretary Dulles emphasized.