Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who is leaving this week-end for a flying trip to Israel and the Arab countries, today told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the new Mutual Security Aid bill submitted yesterday by the Administration–seeking allocations of $194,000,000 in economic aid for the Near East–represents an attempt to bring about Arab-Israel peace treaties by dealing with the area as a whole.
Emphasizing that he believes that the Near East can best be treated as a whole, Secretary Dulles declared it would not be realistic to try to build a defense against possible Soviet aggression as long as the area is weakened internally by a technical state of war between the Arab states and Israel. By the new legislation, Mr. Dulles said, he hoped to initiate a program which would include prospects for Arab-Israel peace and which would provide a foundation for a mutual defense structure.
The Secretary of State made these points in replying to a question by Rep. Jacob K. Javits who wanted to know if there was not a new concept contained in the bill which treats the Near East as a single area, including military aid, and institutes precautions against such arms being used aggressively.
Mutual Security Aid director Harold Stassen today told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he is leaving Saturday with Secretary Dulles for the Near East and will, among other things look into the Arab refugee problem and “other integrated problems” in the Arab-Israel area.
ISRAEL TO BE HELPED TO ESTABLISH SELF-SUSTAINING ECONOMY
The committee was informed that “funds for economic assistance will be used to assist Israel to find homes and useful work for its people, and to provide for modest capital development for the purpose of helping Israel to move toward establishing a self-sustaining economy.”
The Administration, meanwhile, made known that “special assistance will also be directed toward Egypt, leader among countries of the Arab world.” The Naguib Government was praised and the point was made that significant aid would bolster this government.
Funds requested for Arab refugee assistance, the Administration outline said, would “enable the host countries concerned with finding shelter for the Arab refugees from Palestine to justify to their people assistance and rehabilitation and would help to cover the cost of indirect burdens which the presence of these refugees, approximating 860,000, impose on their economies.”
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