Rep. Arthur G. Klein, New York Democrat, today called upon the U.S. Government to lift the embargo which the State Department has placed on shipments of arms to middle eastern countries and to warn the Arab states against continuing their policy of flouting the U.N. decision to partition Palestine.
In view of American leadership in effecting the U.N. decision, the imposition of the and embargo placed the U.S. in an “illogical, indefensible, and untenable position,” Klein told the House of Representatives, “especially with the discovery that American shotgun ammunition can be shipped to Arabs while explosives intended for Palestine are seized and the shippers arrested. New and startling disclosures about shipments to Arabs can he expected soon,” he promised.
Klein also urged the government to insist that Great Britain abide by the majority decision for partition and join with the U.S. in providing arms for the Haganah ?or police work. There is no time now to establish, train and dispatch a United Nations force, he said. Klein called upon the House to support the Administration in such a course of action because, he said, the peace of the world nay well be at stake.
Earlier in the session Rep. Lawrence H. Smith, Wisconsin Republican, told the House that the United States is “in trouble in the Middle East.” Referring to Secretary of Defense James Forrestal’s statement to a House sub-committee that partition of Palestine had jeopardized cur Middle Eastern oil supply, Smith said: “The men who are in charge of the armed services are alarmed and justly so…unless we take care of this situation now, we are headed straight for war. The Palestine partition action…has created a critical national security problem. It is fraught with great danger to our country.”
Secretary of the Interior Krug told the House Foreign Affairs Committee today, under questioning by Rap. Jacob K. Javits of New York, that 90 percent of Sandi Arabia’s government revenues derive from oil royalties paid by American oil companies. Rep. Prances Bolton of Ohio had asked Mr. Krug whether the European Recovery Program did not depend on oil from the Middle East and whether if it were cut off, it would not interfere with the program.
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