The Republican leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives is considering charging the Administration with violation of bipartisan foreign policy commitments by “exploiting the Congressional recess to initiate a new Near Eastern policy of providing arms and aid to the Arabs and thus gravely endangering Israel’s security and regional peace prospects,” Rep. Seymour Halpern, New York Republican, disclosed today.
Rep. Halpern said he is discussing the matter with Senate Republican leader Everett Dirksen, House Republican leader Gerald Ford, and ranking minority members of the Congressional foreign affairs bodies. He said that Republicans had been neither informed nor consulted on “the pro-Arab steps, endangering Near Eastern peace — steps which make a mockery of the concept of bipartisanship in foreign policy, and totally ignore the expressed sense of Congress.”
“The State Department has failed to keep faith with the Congress on the Near Eastern issue, and we will demand a prompt explanation of the work by U. S. scientists on Egyptian missiles, weapons shipments to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, and food for Egypt,” the Congressman stated. He indicated that the Republicans would also demand provision of arms aid to Israel to balance the Arab military build-up, which includes Soviet as well as American weapons.
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