Leaders from five Near Eastern countries have arrived in the United States for a special study of “Conquest of the Desert” methods “aimed at helping the Near Eastern countries,” but Israel was not asked to participate owing to fears of administration officials that the Arabs might be offended.
The study is sponsored by the Foreign Organization Administration under its technical cooperation program, with the assistance of the Departments of Interior and Agriculture. It has been planned in cooperation with FOA technicians assigned to U.S. operations missions in the Near East.
Twelve officials have arrived from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. The tour will take them to Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, where they will observe water spreading and management practices on private and government lands under varying conditions of soil, rainfall and temperature, with conditions similar to those found in the Near East. Administration sources said the program would be valuable to Israel but it was decided here that participation of the Israelis was undesirable because of the Arab attitude toward Israel.
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