The House Appropriations Committee today reduced the appropriation bill for the Mutual Security Aid program by $250,130,000 and sent the measure to the House floor. The Israel allocation of $73,000,000 was not affected by the cut.
The United States is “continuing to work” toward a Middle Eastern defense pact “which would take into account Egyptian national aspirations and provide for the defense of the Middle East on an equal and cooperative basis.” This was made known in previously secret testimony by Burton Y. Berry, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, which was revealed yesterday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Secretary Berry told the Senators that American aid to Israel and the Arab states has been “a major factor in discouraging external aggression and internal subversion.” He said that since 1947 “the United States has sought directly and through the United Nations to bring about an enduring peace between Israel and the Arab states. These efforts have not yet succeeded because it has not been possible to obtain agreement between Israel and the Arab states on the resettlement of about 850,000 Arab refugees.”
The Arab radio, heard here, today reported that Arab League secretary-general Azzam Pasha has suggested to members of an American Christian Palestine Committee group touring the Near East that Middle East problems could be solved by granting the Jews “a symbolic state like the Vatican.” Azzam Pasha and the Americans also discussed the Palestine Arab refugee situation and the possibility of restoring peace to the Middle East, the radio said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
