Eisenhower Confers on Arab-israel Problem; Sends Largest U.S. Warship

President Eisenhower today discussed the Arab-Israel situation with Acting Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, Jr., while the U.S. Navy revealed that the supercarrier Forrestal, the world’s mightiest and largest warship, will sail for the Mediterranean to join the U.S. Sixth Fleet there. A battalion of Marines was ordered last week to join the Sixth Fleet.

The Forrestal, a 70,000 ton aircraft carrier, carries many jet fighters and highspeed bombers. Several of these planes are supersonic and they will be tested next month at Norfolk, Va. At present the warship is going through jet plane training exercises in the Caribbean. The ship will probably not proceed to the Mediterranean before the end of the summer, it was indicated.

The details of President Eisenhower’s meeting with Acting Secretary Hoover were not made public. However, it is believed that one of the major problems discussed was how the Arab-Israel crisis could best be brought before the United Nations Security Council. The President urged last week “early” action by the United Nations on the Arab-Israel issue.

Robert S. Allen, noted Washington columnist, reported today that President Eisenhower is considering an urgent “suggestion” from British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden for the calling of a Big Three “summit conference” on the deepening Arab-Israel crisis. This conference should take place in London within a few weeks. The French Government, according to Mr. Allen, strongly favors the proposal but the United States is cool to it.

Mr. Allen also reports that most of the mail received by the State Department during the last two months favors arms for Israel. He quotes a private State Department report stating: “More than half of a heavy volume of correspondence received in January and February was concerned with the Arab-Israel dispute. Nearly all of the mail on this subject expressed a plea for U.S. arms for Israel.”