The Foreign Ministers of the three Western Powers who are meeting here preliminary to the conference of Foreign Ministers at Geneva on Thursday, were to have reviewed the situation in the Middle East today created by the Czech-Egyptian arms deal and further attempts by the Communist bloc to penetrate the Middle East.
A plane of the U.S. Air Force was dispatched to Lydda today to pick up Edward B. Lawson, the American Ambassador to Israel, for conferences with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles here. Henry A. Byroade, American envoy to Cairo, was also due here today for consultations with Mr. Dulles.
Premier Moshe Sharett of Israel, who flew to Paris yesterday to present his country’s position personally to the Big Four Foreign Ministers, will meet Mr. Dulles and British Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan separately here on Wednesday. He will also see the French Foreign Minister A. Pinay, in Geneva here. Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov has agreed to meet Mr. Sharett in Geneva on Thursday or Friday.
SHARETT CONFERS WITH ISRAEL ENVOYS; TO SEE DULLES TOMORROW
Meanwhile, Mr. Sharett conferred extensively today with the Israel envoys to Britain France and Italy and was awaiting the arrival of the Israel Ambassadors to Moscow and Washington, whose arrival was delayed by weather conditions.
In a press interview last night, Mr. Sharett described the purpose of his sudden flight to Paris as to draw the attention of the Foreign Ministers to “the dangerous effect of a sudden change in the balance of military power on Israel’s security position.” He said he had no precise information on the size of the Czech-Egyptian arms deal but commented that “from our general information, I would say that this is not a paltry deal.”
In reply to a question, Mr. Sharett said that British arms shipments to Iraq “is definitely a threat” to Israel’s security. He pointed out that “the Middle East cannot be divided into East and West spheres of influence but any change in the Arab status is a threat to Israel.”
Asked whether Israel would like to have her borders guaranteed by the Soviet Union as well as the Western Powers, Mr. Sharett said he would not like to prejudice his conversations this week but he could say that if there was unity of purpose in such a declaration, it would be welcome, but there would have to be unity of purpose.
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.
