Seventeen members of the House Armed Services committee will visit Israel, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia beginning tomorrow for talks with leaders of those countries. The trip was announced by Melvin Price (D.III.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who said the group would study the impact of large U.S. arms sales on the stability of the Middle East and the effect of those sales on the preparedness of American armed forces. He said the Congressmen would tour Arab-Israeli border regions.
The group is the second from the U.S. Congress to visit the Middle East on a fact-finding mission in recent weeks. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D.Hawali), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid and Sen. Charles Mathias (R. Md.) a member of the subcommittee, were in Israel from Jan. 23-27 to examine that country’s needs in light of its request for $2.5 million in U.S. economic aid.
It was learned meanwhile that Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger will go to Brussels this Sunday for meetings with the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey after which he will continue on to the Middle East. According to informed sources, Kissinger will arrive in Israel on Feb. 11, continue to Cairo the following day and will visit Damascus Feb. 13. The sources said he may pay a second call on Israel, depending on developments, or he may continue to Jordan and Saudi Arabia before returning to Washington.
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