Secretary of State John Foster Dulles flew to New York today to meet with United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold tomorrow on a new plan under which President Eisenhower will ask Congress for authority to use political, economic and, if necessary military force to oppose any Soviet aggression in the Middle East.
The plan will be presented by President Eisenhower and Mr. Dulles to Congressional leaders on Tuesday, with a view to securing from both Houses of Congress a joint declaration emphasizing determination on the part of the United States to oppose any armed aggression by the Soviet Union against the Middle East, and to grant increased economic aid to Middle East countries. American diplomats in Britain and France were instructed today to inform the governments of these two countries of what would be proposed to the Congressional leaders Tuesday.
The State Department today stressed the fact that the planned request by President Eisenhower for Congressional authority to use United States armed forces as he deems necessary to maintain peace in the Middle East is aimed primarily at preventing Soviet penetration in the area, and not at settling Arab-Israel disputes.
ARAB-ISRAEL DISPUTES LEFT TO U.N.; AID TO ISRAEL MADE CONDITIONAL
Officials of the State Department made it clear that the United States will leave the Arab-Israel disputes and the Suez Canal issue to the United Nations. Israel would be affected under the new plan only if it is directly attacked by Soviet forces, they said.
Similarly, it is envisaged here that economic aid under the new plan is, principally, conceived as a means of ousting Soviet economic penetration from the Arab states. The United States also wishes to begin supplying arms to Egypt and other Arab states in order to replace the Soviet Union as the armory for the Arab states.
The United States, in this connection, envisages extensive aid to Jordan, to prevent that nation from moving further toward the Soviet orbit. But economic aid for Israel seems questionable, as State Department sources today indicated that the resumption of the currently suspended U.S. aid program for Israel hinges on Israel’s compliance with steps the U.S. feels should take for regional peace. Included some such steps is withdrawl of Israel troops from territory occupied by its forces.
It is being pointed out by State Department sources that Israel is not considered as deserving of special consideration at this juncture, because Israel “aggression” is said to have created the situation which the new plan is designed to remedy.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Mrs. Golda Meir, had a 90 minute meeting with Secretary Dulles Friday, at the State Department. She said later that the meeting was devoted to a general review of many aspects of Israel-American relations. In reply to questions, she confirmed that recent resumption of fedayeen activities by Egypt, and questions of Israel’s troop withdrawals from Egyptian territory, were among the wide range of topics discussed.
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