Egypt’s Views on Middle East Defense Announced in Washington

The Egyptian Embassy today suggested an all-Arab Near Eastern defense organization, excluding Israel, in anticipation of the Big Three Foreign Ministers conference to be held here.

A statement issued by the Embassy said that Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Lord Salisbury definitely will discuss the situation surrounding the Anglo-Egyptian deadlock over the Suez Canal issue. In connection with the expected course of the high-level deliberations, the Egyptian Embassy said today that Arab leaders have agreed that “the defense of the Middle East should start from within” and that an all-Arab alliance might cooperate with the West if the British would evacuate their troops from the Suez Zone.

“General Naguib believes that the healthiest situation in the Middle East would be for the inhabitants of the Middle East to play an important role in the defense of the area,” the Embassy statement declared. “He recognised that in wartime they would need the technical and military assistance of other free nations to defend the area from any aggression. But he and other Arab leaders believe that the defense of the Middle East should start from within.

“General Naguib has suggested that the Arab League collective security pact be the core of any future agreements. This pact, linking eight Arab nations — Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Libya — says that any attack on any one of these nations is considered an attack on all of them. All bases within those countries would then be made available to the military forces of all the Arab nations, and their allies.

“This pact could dove-tail into the defense blueprints of the Western nations, once the Arab states are convinced of the readiness of the West to treat them as equals and not as inferiors. The best way would be for the British to evacuate their troops from the Suez Canal to pave the way for closer understanding between the Middle East and the West,” the statement concluded.