State Department officials expressed surprise today and more than a hint of chagrin that they had been kept totally in the dark about President Nixon’s special aid and development fund package for the Middle East, including $250 million for Egypt, until the story broke in the news media yesterday. The officials, who would normally be fully acquainted with such fiscal matters, acknowledged that in this instance a tight lid of secrecy was maintained by the White House.
The aid package indicated that the government appeared to be moving unilaterally toward defusing Palestinian hostility through increased aid to refugees in the Middle East. The funds are expected to give Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger additional political leverage when he meets Arab leaders in at least six countries on his next visit to the Middle East beginning Sunday. They are also seen as a move by Nixon to bolster Egyptian President Anwar Sadat domestically and draw him further away from the Soviet orbit.
Sources here suggested today that the White House kept the matter secret to enable the President or the Secretary of State to spread the glad tidings to the Arab governments before it became public knowledge. White House Deputy Press Secretary Gerald Warren told the JTA yesterday that the “special requirement fund” proposed for use in the Middle East by Nixon was “strictly for peace-keeping” and “reconstruction.”
Warren said that “reconstruction” has not been “identified” for the purpose of the fund’s use and that there “may be other demands for special requests” but did not indicate what they may be. Asked whether some of the money might be used for the settlement of Palestinian refugees as indicated in the President’s statement on U.S. foreign aid, Warren replied, “If Palestinians are identified, sure.”
SYRIA MIGHT ALSO RECEIVE AID
The possibility that Syria might be given U.S. aid was also indicated. A State Department source implied the possibility exists while Rep. John Rhode (R.Ariz.) indicated that it might be made on a long-range basis. Rhodes made his comment after hearing Nixon and Kissinger explain the overall aid program for the new fiscal year to Congressional leaders at the White House. This seemed to indicate that Kissinger might use aid funds as political leverage to move Israelis and Arabs toward an accommodation.
The White House is asking $297.5 million for Jordan in the forms of military assistance grants, economic security support and military sales credits, more than double the assistance to Jordan in the last fiscal year. For Israel, the usual $350 million was asked in the form of a credit of $300 million for military purchases and $50 million in a grant for economic supporting assistance–the same amounts ear-marked for Israel in the past three annual budgets.
The President told the Congressional leaders that the “special requirement fund” of $100 million is to help meet new needs that may arise in the Middle East and is to include the U.S. share of financing the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) currently on a peace-keeping mission in Sinai. The U.S. is paying slightly less than $18 million a year toward the cost of UNEF until next Oct. 24. The money is being taken out of the $2.2 billion in emergency aid for Israel.
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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.
