President Eisenhower’ s address before a joint session of both Houses of Congress yesterday, asking for authorization to use American armed forces to protect the territorial integrity and political independence of Middle Eastern nations requesting aid against Convert armed aggress from any nation controlled by international Communism" was analyzed carefully today by members of Congress seeking to clarify the possible effect of the President’s proposals on Israel’s security.
The President made it clear in his address that his new program is primarily designed to deal with the possibility of Communist aggression, direct and indirect and does not intend to deal with such matters as the Arab-Israel problem the immediate to future of the Suez Canal and the Palestine refugee problem. These, he indicated, will continue to be dealt with by the United Nations.
The exclusion of the Arab-Israel issue and the Suez problem from the Eisenhower Doctrine was immediately criticized in a statement issued here by the newly formed national Democratic Advisory Committee which charged the President with "brushing aside the root problems" of the Middle East. "Certainly American minds car come up with something better than the statement that these problems are before the United Nations and we are behind the United Nations, the Democratic leadership body declared.
The Democratic Advisory Committee, among whose members are former President rumen, Adlai Stevenson, Government or Averell Harriman and other leaders of the Democratic Party. stressed that the responsibility for a program to deal with the Arab-Israel and Suez issue" rests squarely upon the shoulders of the President". It expressed the hope that President, Eisenhower will move with dispatch to prepare such a program and to submit it to the country.
EISENHOWER DOCTRINE COULD MEAN MUCH OR LITTLE FOR ISRAEL
The opinion among Congressional leaders was that the Eisenhower Doctrine could mean much or little in terms of Israel’s security. Some pointed out that President Eisenhower has put Israel on a thin diet of hope by implying that any foreseeable Arab attack on Israel was likely to be a matter not for the operation of the new United States Doctrine, but only for the United Nations.
On the other hand it was noted that in the phrasing used by the President and in the joint resolution introduced to implement his recommendations, reference was made to use of U.S. forces to protect any Middle East nation requesting such and against over armed aggression from any nation controlled by international Communism." This brought a question of whether Egypt or Syria might at some future time be considered aggressors "controlled by international Communism." If so Israel might apply to the United States for the aid of U.S. forces in repelling aggression.
The President failed to name individual nations when he referred to the Communist, menace confronting Middle East nations. The fact is that Israel has been more openly threatened by the Soviet Union in recent months than any other state in the region. Iraq, an Arab state which is anti-Communist as well as anti-Israel, has also come under sharp Communist criticism. Egypt and Syria do not consider themselves menaced by Communism. These two states consider the Soviet bloc less of a threat than the West.
ISRAEL DIPLOMATS REFRAIN FROM COMMENT ON EISENHOWER’ S DOCTRINE
Israel diplomats here refrained from making any comment on President Eisenhower’ s proposals. They were awaiting clarification from the State Department on the many points in Mr. Eisenhower’ s address. Israel Ambassador Ablia Eban said Israel would have no comment until a study has been made of the President’s address and the preliminary clarification given him Friday by Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree
Mr. Eban stressed the "preliminary" nature of the information given to him by Mr. Rountree. He said that during his talk with Mr. Rountree he also inquired about the relationship of the Eisenhower plan to proposals for economic assistance.
It is understood that apart from the separate question of possible U.S. armed intervention in the Middle East, Israel will explore the "military assistance and cooperation. promised by Mr. Eisenhower to any nation or group of nations which desires such aid. Israel sought without success to buy arms in this country after Russia provided Egypt and Syria with huge quantities of heavy arms and jet planes.
President Eisenhower, in his address yesterday, asked Congress not only for stand by authority to employ American armed forces in the Middle East but also for $400,000,000 in additional funds for economic aid to Middle East nations. He announced he planned to send promptly a special mission to the Middle East to explain the cooperation the United States is prepared to give.
While the President equated Arab attacks and Israeli defensive reactions with the comment that "raids back and forth across national boundaries" were responsible for the instability in the Middle East, he did not use the term aggression in referring to the Israel’s Sinai Campaign. He described this as "the relatively large attack by Israel in October."
Mentioning the Middle East as the birthplace of Christianity, Judaism and Mohammedanism, the President referred to Jerusalem and Mecca and said "it would be intolerable if the Holy Places of the Middle East should be subjected to a rule that glorifies atheistic materialism."
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.
