The State Department has instructed Ambassador Edward Lawson to protest to Israel Prime Minister Moshe Sharett against Israel’s announced reprisal action in the Gaza vicinity, it was learned here today.
State Department sources, meanwhile, indicated that the U.S. Government feels the most recent Gaza incident and Israel’s alleged “reprisal policy” is preventing a reappraisal of American Near Eastern policy along the lines sought by Israel.
Suggestions by Zionist leaders that the United States conclude a security pact with Israel are now being discussed within the State Department with departmental circles beginning to advance a view that Israel, to enhance its chances for such consideration, must abandon what the department feels is a “negative policy of reprisals.”
It is suggested by State Department officials that Israel cannot realistically expect a pact or special security considerations when it allegedly does not see fit to follow American suggestions on regional peace including the fundamental State Department position on reprisals.
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