Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, called here yesterday for a three power conference by the United States, Britain and France to reaffirm their commitments to preserve peace in the Middle East. It was these same three powers that issued the tripartite declaration in 1950 stressing their “unalterable opposition to the use of force or threat of force” in the Middle East.
Sen. Javits’ proposal for a new tripartite declaration which was contained in a letter to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, followed the rejection by the State Department of an earlier suggestion by the New York Senator that a “great power conference,” including the Soviet Union, be called to consider ways of preserving peace in the Middle East and stabilizing the arms race.
Warning that “the peace of the world may well be at stake” in view of the growing disturbances in the Middle East, Senator Javits declared in the letter that “we are fast approaching a situation where any incident, big or small, could trigger a direct confrontation.” He urged, therefore, that the Administration give “utmost consideration to calling a new tripartite conference so that positive steps can be taken now to prevent another Middle East war.”
Nothing that 17 years had passed since the 1950 declaration by the three powers, Sen. Javits said that many countries in the region “have come to believe that the three Western powers would no longer act in concert in the event of crisis.” He said that it was important “to disabuse them of this idea. Sen. Javits suggested that the three Western nations could make “a considerable contribution” to the stability of the Middle East “by clarifying and re-affirming their commitments to maintain the security of the region.”
STATE DEPARTMENT REJECTS SUGGESTION ON GREAT POWER CONFERENCE
In rejecting the New York Senator’s earlier proposal for a “great power conference,” Douglas MacArthur II, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, in a letter written at the personal request of Mr. Rusk, expressed doubt that such a conference stood any chance of success. He said the Arabs would oppose such a conference because of their refusal to recognize Israel and their insistence upon prior agreement by Israel to readmit all the Arab refugees who fled the country during the 1948 struggle. He said that the Arab position on this question “is widely supported by many countries all over the world.”
Mr. MacArthur also rejected another suggestion in Sen. Javits’ first letter calling for United Nations General Assembly action to resolve Israel-Arab differences as well as proposals to expand the U.N. Emergency Force. General Assembly action would prove useless, Mr. MacArthur declared, because of Israel’s failure to implement the U.N. resolution for repatriation and compensation of Arab refugees. The expansion of UNEF, he said, would face difficulties because, among other reasons, “Israel has refused to allow the U.N. Emergency Force to enter its territory.”
Expressing doubt about General Assembly action to deter Arab terrorism, Mr. MacArthur declared: “It seems to us unlikely that, in a general discussion of the security situation in the area, the necessary two-thirds majority of the Assembly members would support a strong resolution against terrorism without taking an even stronger stand against retaliatory raids.”
In his first letter, Sen. Javits charged that the United States was responding inadequately to the terroristic “Palestine Liberation Army.” He noted the relaxation of official opposition to distribution of U.N. relief rations to terrorists.
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.
