Saudi Arabia is exercising pressure upon the U.S. Government to prevent the national conventions of the Democratic and Republican Parties from including in their platforms any reference to Arab discrimination against American Jews, was learned here today.
Political circles revealed here that the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in Washington has submitted a note asking the State, Department to warn the Democratic and Republican parties that “serious consequences” will result if they include in their platforms direct reference to Saudi Arabian or other Arab discriminations against Jews. The Saudi-Arabian note emphasized that this would be considered United States interference in internal Arab affairs.
The Palestine Arab Refugee Office in New York appealed yesterday to the Democratic and Republican platform committees not to draft planks which include promises that would “further abuse the rights and interests of the Palestine Arab refugees.” Any pro-Zionist declarations or promises, the Refugee Office said in a statement, “will aggravate the present tense situation” in the Middle East and “can only lead to disastrous results.”
The statement further declared that the best interests of the United States required that the refugees be granted the right of self-determination and the right to “hold and enjoy their own property in their own homeland.”
Thomas K. Finletter, former Secretary of the Air Force, urged the platform committee to draft a platform that would “criticize the failure of the Eisenhower Administration to support properly the Government of Israel against the threats of certain Arab states, and particularly should criticize our failure to provide proper arms to Israel with which to defend herself, while at the same time we ship military equipment to some of the opponents of Israel.”
He said the platform should also criticize what he described as Republican “failure to support the 1950 Tripartite Declaration” guaranteeing Israel boundaries. He recommended against any reference to the current Suez Canal crisis in the platform, indicating that the issue is too current and changing.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
