American Jews interested in the fate of Israel felt deeply concerned today by the views on the Arab-Israel situation expressed last Friday by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. These views also produced sharp criticism among leading Democratic members of the Senate, who declared that they are not satisfied with Mr. Dulles testimony.
The Secretary of State admitted that Soviet bloc shipment of arms to Egypt would materially after the military balance against Israel, however he made it plain that there was no foreseeable intention on the part of the United States of supplying arms to Israel. “The United States,” he said, “does not exclude the possibility of arms sale to Israel at a time when it would preserve peace.” At the same time, he revealed that not only Egypt but also Syria is receiving arms from the Soviet bloc.
Mr. Dulles asserted that “Israel cannot win an arms race against Arabs having access to Soviet-bloc stocks. “He claimed that Israel’s hope lies in collective rather than in local security and most of all in the United Nations. He said that there was danger that Israel might precipitate what is called a preventive war” and warned that if that occurs, the United States will not be “involved on the side of Israel.”
Admitting that if he were in the same situation as Israel he would also be clamoring for assistance, Secretary Dulles nevertheless told the Senate committee that Israel’s fears of annihilation are unfounded. He blamed Israel for “clouding” on occasion efforts for an Arab-Israel settlement, and cited the raid in Gaza area, as an example. He warned against using the Arab-Israel issue for “domestic political pressures.”
Mr. Dulles also implied that he would seek revision of the present borders between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries before entering into any treaty engagement to present alteration of Arab-Israel boundaries by force. “The present existing armistice lines were not designed to be permanent frontiers in every respect,” he stated. “A more permanent and agreed line is necessary.”
DULLES AND U. N. SECRETARY GENERAL WILL CONFER WEDNESDAY
Secretary Dulles revealed that he will confer with United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold on Wednesday on the Arab-Israel situation. He emphasized that in the event of an attack on Israel, the United States would look to the United Nations to give the lead. If that was balked by a Soviet veto, a UN General Assembly meeting might be called and other alternatives considered.
He said that the United States, Britain and France had made certain plans for immediate action in the event of an “explosion” in the Middle East. Asked whether these plans were adequate to prevent the destruction of Israel, he replied that the U. S. could not “underwrite” so total a promise because the question was military.”
Mr. Dulles justified the sending of the 18 American army tanks last week to Saudi Arabia. “The arms shipped to Saudi Arabia, he asserted, did not affect Arab-Israel power balance. These tanks, he argued, might protect 6,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia. If the U. S. refused to sell tanks, the U. S. Saudi Arabian agreement for the use of the air base at Dharan might not have been renewed. He said that the policy governing the relationship between the U. S. and Saudi-Arabia was laid by the late President Roosevelt and confirmed by former President Truman. He added that it was under this policy that American service men of Jewish faith were kept out of Saudi Arabia.
The Secretary several times urged his listeners not to inject the Arab-Israel issue into the forthcoming election campaign. He said that the Arab world believes that the United States is largely dominated by domestic political considerations. “It is the determination of this Administration to deal in a manner that is best for the United States,” he told the Senate committee. “I hope that in the political campaign ahead the discussion will be on such level as to dissipate this idea that the U. S. policy is dominated by local domestic politics.”
Important Democratic Senators today took issue with Secretary of State Dulles explanation before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the shipment of 18 tanks to Saudi Arabia and his plea to keep the Israel issue out of election-year politics. Sen. Walter F. George, chairman of the committee, said the Arab-Israel question “can’t” be kept out of the 1956 campaign. Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, a committee member, complained that Secretary Dulles had left unsettled “what is going to be done to protect Israel’s territorial sovereignty.”
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