A delegation of leaders of central Jewish organizations is scheduled to meet here tomorrow with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to discuss American policy on the Middle East and to present the objections of American Jews to the U.S. Government’s sending arms to the Arab states as long as they refuse to negotiate peace with Israel.
Secretary Dulles will receive the delegation immediately after his return from Paris where he succeeded in bringing about the signing of protocols by 15 nations restoring sovereignty to Western Germany and providing for her rearmament and admission into Western alliances. Arrangements for the meeting between Secretary Dulles and the Jewish delegation were made last week, prior to Mr. Dulles’ departure for Paris.
Meanwhile it was indicated by the State Department during the week-end that the United States is considering the question of also granting arms to Israel. This indication was given in a letter by Acting Assistant Secretary of State Ben H. Brown, Jr., to Congressman Isidore Dollinger of New York.
“An Israel request for grant of military assistance remains under consideration,” Mr. Brown wrote Rep. Dollinger. “Factors involved in the consideration of this application include Israel’s present military posture, which is one of strength, and her position in the over-all strategic concept of the area. As conditions improve in the area generally, the role which Israel could play in the defense of the Near East should take on added significance.”
Simultaneously, it was indicated that the U.S. Government will begin sending economic and military aid to Egypt this week in accordance with a pledge given by President Eisenhower that such aid would be forthcoming if Egypt reached agreement with Britain on the Suez Canal issue. Officials of the State Department and Foreign Operations Administration said that the amount of economic aid to Egypt will be less than the $100,000,000 asked by the Egyptian authorities, but it will be “about as much as Egypt can usefully absorb at this early stage of her economic development plans.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.