Seven Arab nations made known today they would put their own Middle East command – excluding Israel – into operation in mid-September. These nations include Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
Formation of the New Middle Eastern defense arrangement was announced by Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League. A clause governing the command’s functions stated that “any armed aggression against any one or more of the pact’s members or its forces is an attack on all to be met with armed force.”
(The New York Times today reported from Cairo that when asked about the statement by Israel Premier David Ben Gurion yesterday which implied a peace offer to Egypt, Mr. Azzam said that it was impossible to expect Egypt to make peace with Israel while “more than one million Arabs have been thrown out of their native country (Palestine) and live in miserable conditions.” Mr. Azzam also charged that Israel was increasing her military strength and “threatening Syria and (Lieut. Col. Adib) Shishekly (Syrian Chief of Staff and Deputy Premier) all the time.”
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