“The newly announced determination of President Eisenhower to seek stand-by authority for the use even of American forces in the Middle East as a deterrent against Communist aggression opens a new and decisive phase in our country’s Middle East policy, “Senator Jacob K. Javits declared here today at a reception given him by the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs.
Properly implemented, the President’s plan can be the beginning of reassurances. To the world that World War III will not start in the Middle East crisis; 2. To Israel that it will not again be submitted to the intolerable threats to its national life, and 3 To France and Great Britain of freedom of Suez Canal operations from being tied to Egyptian political control, “Sen. Javits stated.
“When I was in Israel recently, ” he continued, “I found the deepest apprehension that while we interpret our policy to mean that we are opposed to hostilities as a way to end international tensions, our policy is interpreted in Israel as a part of a process which will build up Col, Nasser despite a military defeat. In Israel, it is thought that if this build-up is not checked it could enable Col. Nasser to realize his ambition to dominate the Arab and perhaps the whole Moslem world.
I found Israel prepared to fulfill the provisions of the United Nations resolution for withdrawal of military forces from Sinai.But at the same time I found Israel deeply cognizant of the fact that its very survival is at stake if this withdrawal is not coupled with dependable guarantees of an end to fedayeen raids, to interdiction of its shipping bound for Elath through the Straits of Tiran, and of discrimination against Israel’s ships even after the opening of the Suez Canal to international navigation, “Sen. Javits reported.
The Senator-elect declared he was “not optimistic about achieving direct negotiations between the Arab states and Israel on a peace treaty, or the recognition by the Arab states of Israels existence as a nation at this moment. ” He warned that if Col. Nasser’s force is permitted to reoccupy the Gaza Strip the “world will have lost a precious opportunity to resettle the Palestine Arab refugees there now and to “unlock the door to the resettlement of all Palestine Arab refugees.”
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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.
