Eric Johnston, President Eisenhower’s special envoy to the Arab-Israel area, reported to the President today that the governments of the countries he recently visited “are studying with an open mind the far reaching proposals outlined in the recent UN report on unified development of the water resources of the Jordan River Valley.”
Mr. Johnston, who disclosed that he would return to the Middle East, probably in February, was accompanied on his meeting with the President by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Mr. Dulles later told his press conference at the State Department that he was gratified by Mr. Johnston’s report. The current political situation, he said, might well have resulted in rejection of the plan, but as a result of Mr. Johnston’s visit, the plan was still very much alive.
A White House statement emphasized that on his recent visit to the Middle East, Mr. Johnston did not “expect or ask for decisions at this time.” It added that he reported “that the attitude he encountered gave him reason to believe that, after serious scrutiny, the project will commend itself to the states concerned as a sound and constructive approach to some of the most critical issues contributing to present tensions in the area.
“Acceptance of the proposals by the Jordan Valley states,” the White House said, “would not only go far toward resolving the highly controversial question of rights to the vital water of the River Jordan, but clear the way for the construction of irrigation and hydroelectric installations to provide an economic base in the Jordan Valley for upwards of 300,000 people. This would offer an opportunity to settle a substantial number of the Arab refugees now living on international relief rolls in the Arab countries of the region. This problem was reported by the Secretary of State as one of great concern following his trip to the Middle Eastern area last May.”
PLAN WOULD GIVE ARABS TWO-THIRDS OF JORDAN WATER
Mr. Johnston revealed that the water development plan he submitted to Israel, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon was designed to solve the question of riparian rights by devoting two-thirds of the Jordan River water to the Arabs and one-third to Israel; by giving Arab refugees a seeks in land to be developed thusly, and to remove the reason for border friction by giving Arab refugees newly-developed land. He said
The primary objection to the scheme, he said, was the complaint by the Arabs that they would have nothing to do with Israel. The way around this, he said, would be the negotiating of unilateral agreements.
Mr. Johnston characterized the Bnot Yaacov project against which Syria complained to the Security Council, as a water-development scheme and explained Arab resentment against it. He said “when water is life you can readily understand (how the Arabs feel) when anybody starts taking the water.”
Elaborating on his report after emerging from Mr. Eisenhower’s office, Mr. Johnston said the plan would make available for cultivation 230,000 new acres of land. Two dams visualized would provide 65,000 kilowatts of electricity. The project would cost $121,000,000 of which amount $40,000,000 has been set aside by the United Nations. The power projects are expected to be financed by private enterprise.
Mr. Johnston said that border raids and incidents for which both sides were responsible had occurred when he was in the area. Water, he said, was the key to reducing this tension by developing all land which can be brought under cultivation.
Mr. Johnston said that Iraq had reversed its attitude toward him and that he has now received a message welcoming him to that country. Iraq originally objected to Mr. Johnston because of allegations that he was pro-Zionist owing to a one-time affillation with the American Christian Palestine Committee.
Mr. Dulles told his press conference that the development of the Jordan River as proposed could go far toward the development of the area, the rehabilitation of the Palestine Arab refugees and the settlement of differences between Israel and the Arab states.
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