Robert Murphy, Deputy Under Secretary of State, told a conference of American mayors today that there is an increasing interest in solving the Arab-Israel problem “on the part of the nations contributing troops to the United Nations Emergency Force and a new awareness in the United Nations of the need to enforce compliance with its decisions.”
Mr. Murphy reported that “Soviet policy seeks to exploit the Arab-Israeli problem, the persistence of which is a basic cause of unrest in the Middle East.” He reported that “recent unhappy events in Syria have made it doubtful that the Syrian Government can maintain its claim that it is following a policy of positive neutrality.”
Mr. Murphy said that in the United States view, this situation gives rise to “deep concern.” He stressed that “Egypt, Syria, and Yemen have all received substantial shipments of Soviet bloc military equipment, followed by substantial numbers of Soviet technicians to help them operate the equipment.”
(In Washington, State Department spokesman Lincoln White declined today to comment on a statement by Egyptian Premier Nasser that the “real aim” of U.S. Middle East policy was to relieve pressure on Israel by splitting the Arabs. Mr. White said he would not comment on Col. Nasser’s statement which he described as “apparently based on false assumptions.”)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
