The United Nations Security Council will meet here tomorrow afternoon to vote on a resolution presented by the United States suggesting a visit by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold to the Middle East to mediate between Israel and the Arab countries in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of war in the area.
From Beirut it was reported today that the Syrian radio had announced that the Soviet Government had informed Syria that Moscow would oppose the American resolution at the Security Council. However, at the United Nations no such opposition was expected today, although no commitment on the American resolution was made by Soviet delegation members.
Diplomatic circles here see in the United States move only an effort to stall further on the application for defensive arms which the Israel Government submitted to Washington last November to offset the huge quantity of defensive arms received by Egypt from Soviet satellite. It is known that the Defense Department has established that the-arms requested by Israel can be made available, but the State Department is withholding approval of the application or any part of it.
It is estimated in United Nations circles that–whether Mr. Hammarskjold succeeds in his mission, or not–it will take him more than a month before he prepares a report on it for the Security Council. In the meantime, it is feared, the State Department will have an excuse to deny arms to Israel under the pretext that no decision on Israel’s arms application can be taken while Mr. Hammarskjold conducts his talks and until he submits his report.
Syria and Lebanon have meanwhile requested postponement of tomorrow’s meeting of the Security Council. They asked for more time to consider the proposed United States resolution. However, it is expected that the request of the two Arab countries, which are not members of the Security Council, will be rejected. The Council does not intend to invite either Israel or the Arab countries to participate in tomorrow’s session or to present their views on the American resolution.
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