Arab diplomats were reported today to be showing a friendlier response to the Eisenhower Doctrine as U.S. officials sought to persuade the Arab states that they, rather than Israel, would benefit from President Eisenhower’s new Middle East policy.
State Department sources said today that American arms will not be sold nor given to Israel under the present concept of the Eisenhower doctrine because Israel has used its existing arms to attack a neighboring country. They explained that nations using arms aggressively will be barred from benefiting in the new plan. The State Department sources said that only Israel is in the category ineligible for military assistance.
Israel would be eligible to apply for U.S. military assistance if it were attacked by the Soviet Union or a Soviet satellite. Rep. Albert P. Morano, Connecticut Republican, said today after a closed meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Eisenhower Doctrine. But, he added, “it would not necessarily follow that the United States would definitely go to the aid of Israel.”
Rep. Morano, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said an affirmative response to an Israeli request for aid would not be mandatory. Rep. Morano last year, along with a number of other Republican Congressmen, sought to persuade the State Department to sell arms to Israel to balance the flow of Soviet arms to Egypt.
Merwin K. Hart, listed by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith among leading U.S. anti-Semites, is tentatively scheduled to appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee tomorrow to testify on the Eisenhower Middle East Defense Doctrine. Mr. Hart, head of the National Economic Council, has in the past taken positions strongly opposed to Israel and favorable to the Arabs.
EISENHOWER URGED TO BRING BEN GURION AND NASSER TO WASHINGTON
Congressman Victor L. Anfuso today warned of the dangers involved in U.S. unilateral action in the Middle East. He also suggested that President Eisenhower act as mediator between Egypt and Israel. In a letter to President Eisenhower the New York Democrat said he hoped Congress would grant the Administration power to use U.S. armed forces to aid Middle Eastern nations against Communist aggression. But he expressed fear that unilateral action would cause trouble from which the U.S. could not emerge without tremendous dissipation of wealth and manpower.
Rep. Anfuso also suggested that the President extend an invitation to President Nasser of Egypt and Prime Minister Ben Gurion of Israel “to meet with you in Washington in the near future to discuss their dispute in your presence.” He said that if either of the leaders refuse the President’s invitation, it would show a lack of interest in peace. Under such circumstances, Rep. Anfuso said it would be wisest for the U.S. to cut off all military, economic and other assistance for such nations at once.
State Department press spokesman Lincoln White said today the U. S. has received no word from Egypt that it intends to close the Suez Canal to French and British shipping until Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip. Mr. White reaffirmed a U.S. view that the Suez Canal should be reopened with “complete freedom of transit” for all rations.
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