Israel circles today denied a report originating from State Department sources that Israel has officially notified the United States Government that work on a disputed Jordan River water project would be resumed March 1.
State Department sources said Israel made known to U.S. officials that Israel could no longer wait for Arab agreement to the regional water cooperation scheme for which Presidential envoy Eric Johnston has worked for some time. These sources referred to the B’not Yaacov project, an undertaking to which Syria violently objects. The same project figured in the news in 1953.
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles today summoned Mr. Johnston to his office. At his press conference later in the day, Mr. Dulles said that Mr. Johnston was asked to come to the State Department because the Secretary wanted to check the present status of Johnston’s regional water development scheme and the hopes for it in the light of the most recent events involving Israel and the Arab states.
It was revealed by Mr. Dulles that Ambassador Johnston has no present intention of returning to the Middle East. Mr. Dulles said that technical planning on regional water cooperation was well advanced, but that he hoped political conditions would take a turn that would make the Johnston Plan possible.
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