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U.S. Government Opposed to Nato Deciding on Israel’s Boundaries

December 17, 1957
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The United States is opposed to the NATO summit conference attempting any action on Israel’s boundaries, a State Department source said today.

According to the source, the United States is against seeking a NATO decision on Middle Eastern matters because Middle East states are not represented at the parley.

It is believed here that the Arab states have exaggerated the purported Soviet promises to back the Arabs completely in a drive to force Israel to return to the 1947 partition boundaries. The United States has no firsthand knowledge of such pledges originating from the Russians themselves, only secondhand versions related by the Arabs.

Turkey was reported acting for the Moslem members of the Baghdad Pact at Paris because she is a NATO member. Reportedly, Turkey is seeking NATO support of a Middle Eastern settlement based on revision of Israel’s boundaries Eased on the 1947 United Nations partition formula.

The United States has a basic policy of refusing to discuss the fate of nations at international parleys unless those nations are represented. The U.S. source said that this position has been communicated by the American ambassadors to Israel and the various Moslem nations involved. Secretary of State Dulles and other officials have expressed similar views through diplomatic channels.

It was pointed out today that the United States rejected three Soviet notes on the Middle East on the ground that the proposed Big Power meetings could not properly discuss the fate of nations not represented at such meetings.

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