MIDDLE EAST DOCTRINE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28434, 14 November 1957, Page 15

MIDDLE EAST DOCTRINE

U.S. May Change Policy

(Rec. 11.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, November 13.

The United States was said in the Lebanon to be about to scrap the Eisenhower doctrine for the Middle East in favour of a new programme of unconditional aid, a “New York Times” correspondent reported from Beirut today. The correspondent said information on the supposed United States plan was attributed to a report from Dr. Charles Malik, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister, who is in the United States. It could not be verified from official sources, but it had been widely accepted as authentic by the Lebanese press.

The basic idea of the Eisenhower doctrine is that Washington will give economic support and arms to countries prepared to fight international communism and will send armed forces, if asked to do so, to help repel Communist aggression. Dr. Malik was said to have reported that Washington had recognised Soviet gains in the Middle East as a result of a better understanding of the Arab mentality and therefore had decided to modify United States policy. The correspondent said Dr. Malik’s report was supposed to have said the United States was now prepared to drop al] tail? of resistance to communism or of other conditions and to follow the Soviet example of offering Middle East countries massive economic aid “completely without condition.”

Since its inception, the Eisenhower doctrine had aroused bitter opposition in the Arab countries. said the correspondent. Two main grounds were that it implied that United States troops might be sent to the Middle East and that the countries concerned must commit themselves to fight international communism.