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Five-point Agenda Set for Summit Parley: Seeks Middle East Place

July 25, 1958
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Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, it became known here today, has ordered his top echelon staff to prepare for the Security Council summit conference an agenda comprising five points–of which four would affect Israel directly and immediately. Mr. Hammarskjold has ordered his staff to prepare a separate dossier on each of the five points. These points are:

1. Peaceful evolution of the Middle East.

2. Guarantee of the independence of all the countries in the area against intervention from without.

3. Limitation of arms deliveries.

4. Economic cooperation, economic help and development to be offered all the countries in the Middle East.

5. Withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Middle East.

Mr. Hammarskjold is forming a special advisory committee on the overall problems of the Middle East, ranging far beyond the immediate crisis involving Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. It became known here today that he has written letters to some ranking representatives of UN member states on this subject, has conferred with others, and is due to talk to still others in the next few days.

The new Middle East advisory committee will, it is understood, include representatives from the seven nations now composing the United Nations Emergency Force Advisory Committee. These seven would be supplemented by representatives from some of the countries that are prominent in the UN Observation Group in Lebanon as well as some that have contributed sizeable forces to UNEF.

U. S. ADVISORY GROUP MAY SIT IN WITH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT

Altogether, the new group will consist of 10 or 12 members. It is reportedly contemplated that the members of the special advisory group, or a subcommittee chosen from among them, would sit in with the heads of government forming the Security Council summit conference.

The UNEF Advisory Committee is composed of representatives of Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ceylon, Norway, Pakistan and India. In addition to these countries, at least Sweden and Yugoslavia are expected to be represented on the overall Middle East unit. Thus the special group advising the UN on Middle Eastern affairs will include the countries most frequently mentioned as possible Middle Eastern mediators, among which are Canada, Yugoslavia and Sweden.

It is reported that Hans Engen, Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, who came here last week from Norway and conferred with Mr. Hammarskjold last Saturday, will probably be chairman of the special advisory unit. It is believed that some formula may be found by the Secretary General to include Italy also on the special unit.

The reason Mr. Hammarskjold has used the members of the UNEF Advisory Committee as a start for the formation of a group with larger scope and membership is that the representatives on the UNEF group have been in close touch at least with the Israel-Egyptian phase of the program.

Confirmation of the news about the Middle East advisory unit fits in with persistent reports here to the effect that several of the Big Powers, the United States and France among them, would like to enlarge the agenda of the projected Security Council summit conference to include a full scale effort to deal with Middle East issues as a whole, including the Israel-Arab conflict.

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