Maintains Balance of Power in Middle East Must Be Kept

Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon takes a very serious view of the Soviet re-armament of the Arab states and believes that “the first urgency is for America not to allow the balance of power to shift in favor of the militant Arab states bent on a new war.” Mr. Nixon’s detailed views on the Middle East were made available in a statement to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, published in its periodical, Near East Report in May.

Mr. Nixon expressed grave concern over the growth of Soviet naval and military power in the Mediterranean and what he contended was the lack of an effective American response. He said that the U.S. “must see to it that Israel’s military strength is never at a level vis-a-vis the Arab militants that will invite a war of revenge, the consequences of which we could not possibly foresee and which at all costs we must avoid.” He believed that the U.S. must deal directly with the Soviets “and impress upon them both the urgency of keeping their client states in check, and the dangers inherent to the peace in any renewal of the kind of wholesale Soviet irresponsibility evident just prior to the recent conflict.”

The Presidential nominee urged the U.S. to take the diplomatic lead in forging a Middle East peace settlement that should include recognition of Israel’s sovereignty and a guarantee that the Arab territories currently occupied by Israel “will never again be used as bases for aggression or sanctuaries for terrorism.” He said it was “not realistic to expect Israel to surrender these vital bargaining counters in the absence of a genuine peace and effective guarantees.” He cautioned, however “that for Israel to take formal and final possession of these occupied areas would be a grave mistake.”