Secretary of State John Foster Dulles warned the Soviet Union today of dangers to world peace envisaged as a result of its “indirect aggression” in the Middle East. He told the General Assembly of the United Nations that the United States may “Introduce concrete proposals” at the current Assembly session in an effort to “tranquillize the scene.”
Mr. Dulles was the first of the Big Power Foreign Ministers to address the 12th annual regular session of the Assembly. Devoting a third of his address to the Middle East problem, he said that “Russia’s rulers have long sought domination in the Middle East.”
“This time, ‘ Mr. Dulles stated, “they tried to use in Arab countries the technique that Stalin and Lenin had prescribed for bringing about the ‘amalgamation’ of the so-called ‘colonial and dependent peoples’ into the Soviet orbit. In 1955, the Soviet rulers began intensive propaganda designed to incite the Arab nations to believe that with Soviet arms, with Soviet technicians, and with Soviet political backing, they could accomplish extreme nationalistic ambitions.”
“This Soviet Communist effort, ” Mr. Dulles continued, “has made the most progress in Syria where Soviet bloc arms were exultantly received and where political power has increasingly been taken over by those who depend upon Moscow. ” He expressed the belief that the Soviet acts “may perhaps unwittingly lead the recipients of Soviet arms into acts of direct aggression.”
HINTS AT ARAB INCITEMENT TO USE SOVIET ARMS AGAINST ISRAEL
Possibly referring to dangers facing Israel–although he did not mention Israel during his speech- Mr. Dulles told the Assembly “those who feel an abnormal sense of power as a result of the recent putting into their hands of large amounts of Soviet bloc arms are being incited by violent propaganda. That is risky business.”
Declaring that it is the responsibility of member nations to “abstain from acts of aggression, direct or indirect,” Mr. Dulles said: “When there is such a situation as now exists in the Middle East, this General Assembly ought at least to consider it and discuss it. Discussion, as our charter suggests, may of itself be salutary and the United States reserves the right, in the light of that discussion, to introduce concrete proposals.”
The Secretary of State pointed up American interests in the Middle East by reference to the Eisenhower Doctrine and by calling attention to President Eisenhower’s statement of two weeks ago when Mr. Eisenhower “reaffirmed his intention to exercise as needed” the authority given him by the Congressional resolution supporting the Eisenhower Doctrine.
The importance to Israel of Mr. Dulles’ remarks was highlighted by a brief statement from a spokesman for the Israel delegation who declared: “The speech is an important discussion of the dangers created by the heavy rearmament and incitement of Syria. It will be studied with care. ” A Syrian spokesman, Hawdat Muftih, Charge d’Affaires of Syria’s permanent delegation here, defended his government by declaring: “Syria is not threatening any of its neighbors, The West knows very well that Syria is not in a position to threaten anybody.”
Diplomatic circles here analyzed the Dulles address in these terms: 1. It describes the Middle East crisis in global terms, rather than as a local conflict. 2. There is in the speech a strong reminder of United States obligations to all states and any nations threatened by aggression. In this content, Israelis here placed particular emphasis on Mr. Dulles describing as “risky business” the feeling of “abnormal power” now given to countries that are “being incited by violent propaganda” after large amounts of Soviet arms had been placed in their hands.
It was expected that Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko who was scheduled to address the General Assembly tomorrow will react very strongly to Mr. Dulles’ remarks today.
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.