A White House spokesman said today that President Eisenhower welcomes Russia’s offer to help solve the Arab-Israel problem if it “demonstrates a real desire” by Moscow to support United Nations peace efforts. The spokesmen said the White House was still studying the Soviet statement. The President will discuss the Middle East in a nationally broadcast radio-television speech Saturday evening.
The statement on the Middle East issued in Moscow yesterday “should be taken seriously,” Soviet Ambassador in Israel, Alexander Abramov, declared last night, spoke at an Israel Independence Day reception given by the Mayor of Ramath Gam.)
A Jewish delegation today called at the White House to urge consideration of Israels security needs, but the delegation was not permitted to see President Eisenhower: Six rabbis representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform congregations of the Philadelphia area left a petition with Bernard Shanley, one of the secretaries of the President.
Senator Mike Mansfield, Montana Democrat and an important member of the Foreign Relations Committee, today appealed from the floor of the Senate to President Eisenhower to make it clear that the United States “does not intend to permit the annihilation of Israel.” At the same time, he said, “it must also be made clear that we shall not support Israeli expansion at the expense of the Arab states.”
A constructive policy in the Middle East “cannot be built on an eagerness to please everyone, “he declared. “That has been tried and it has failed miserably. We have ended by pleasing no one.” The United States, he said, also needed a clearer understanding of the part American oil interests have played in the Middle East. He cited reports on how Arabs have used oil royalties from the U.S. to finance war preparations “and in other dubious ways.”
WAR DANGER IS POSTPONED, NOT DISPELLED, AMBASSADOR EBAN SAYS
Israel Ambassador Abba Eban last night told the annual dinner meeting of the America-Israel Society that the war danger is “postponed, not dispelled” and that “the crisis may be renewed in sharper form within a few weeks when the Egyptian dictator has perfected his mastery of his new air and armored power.” Mr. Eban called for immediate provision of jet fighter planes for Israel. He said “everything for Israel, and much for the world, depends upon how we use this respite.”
The Ambassador said the emphasis should be on equipping Israel for self-defense rather than on external intervention which raises grave and complex issues not likely to be resolved overnight.” Thomas K. Finletter, former Secretary of the Air Force, said the Israelis “must” be given F-86 Sabre jets. He added: “If they need them the Israelis must have not only these obsolescing F-86 fighters, but the finest and newest all-weather defensive fighters in the possession of the United States.”
The State Department denied today a report from Tokyo that the United States had approved the sale of Japanese arms to Syria. State Department spokesman Lincoln White said that no request had been made of United States officials for permission to sell such arms. He noted further that Japan would not require such permission unless the weapons were manufactured under American patens or contracts.
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