Summary
The United States’ Middle East doctrine ratified by a joint resolution of Congress on 9/3/57, authorizing presidential economic and military aid and the use of US armed forces against attack from any country “subjugated to international Communism”; in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Israel’s adherence to it in May-June 1957 — one of only two regional states to sign on — is the formal end of Non-alignment, taken a month after the West rejected the Soviet Union’s six-point proposal for the region (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.419-426).
Details
- The book gives the Doctrine’s four points: the President is authorized to help any Middle East state or group of states, if they want it, to develop their economic independence in order to preserve their political independence; to provide military aid on the same condition; the USA sees preserving the region’s nations’ independence and integrity as vital to its national interest and world peace; and the USA is prepared, if the President sees a need, to use its armed forces to help any requesting state against armed attack from any country subjugated to international Communism, consistently with US treaty commitments and the Constitution (Resolution of the US Congress, 9/3/57) (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.420-421).
- It was born, the book argues, from the Suez collapse: on 12/2/57 the Soviet Union had proposed that the four Powers conduct Middle East policy on six lines — peaceful negotiated resolution only, non-intervention and respect for sovereignty, renunciation of drawing the region’s countries into Great-Power military blocs, closing bases and withdrawing foreign armies, mutual renunciation of arms supplies, and economic aid with no conditions inconsistent with the recipients’ honour and sovereignty; the Western Powers rejected the proposal a month later, leaving the ground prepared for “a single custodianship” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.419-420).
- Senator Wayne Morse told a Davar correspondent: “This is a doctrine to protect the oil and the oil interests which glorify materialism, which glorifies reactionary states and does not defend the only democracy in the Middle East [the reference is to Israel!]. It will make solutions more remote instead of closer”, adding “I will not vote to send our youth to defend the oil, without similar commitments by any other European countries” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.421).
- Eisenhower’s special emissary Richards came to Jerusalem on 3/5/57 to “sell” the Doctrine and left with the Israeli government’s reply, whose main passage Ben-Gurion quoted in the Knesset: “The government of Israel welcomes the support of the USA in guarding the independence of the states of the Middle East and the development of the economic capacity to realize their independence”; the USA registered Israel’s declaration of 21/5/57 — before the Knesset discussed the matter on 3/6/57 (Knesset Records, 22/2040-2041, 3/6/57) (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.421-422).
- In the debate, Begin attacked only the camouflage in the reply’s phraseology, noting Moscow’s immediate reading of it as “an absolute, unreserved, unconditional alignment with Eisenhower’s anti-Communist Doctrine” and a violation of Sharett’s August 1953 promise that Israel would not join any alliance or grouping aimed at the Soviet Union; Bernstein (General Zionists) called adherence “for the first time, an official choice between the two dominant groupings in the world” and quantified Israel’s dependence at approximately 200 million dollars a year in its foreign currency budget (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.422-423).
- Coalition partners Mapam and Unity of Labour opposed verbally: Yaakov Hazan announced abstention as “in its essence and based on its content, a vote against”, while staying in the government — “a typical Mapam submission to its coalitionist instincts”, the book comments; Ben-Gurion replied “The government … is not neutral. We cannot be neutral … because we are a global people” (Knesset Records, 22/2058, 22/2075, 3/6/57) (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.424-425).
- The votes: Maki’s resolution condemning adherence as national betrayal was defeated 100 to 5; Herut’s resolution demanding a more strongly anti-Communist policy was defeated 81 to 12 (12 abstentions); the government’s take-note proposal passed 59 to 5 with 39 abstentions, including Mapam and Unity of Labour (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.425).
- The book rejects the claim that signing was unimportant because the Doctrine was invalid anyway: it is invalid, if at all, “only because all the states of the Middle East oppose it and only Israel and Lebanon signed on to it”, and “the very willingness to sign an official document of that kind is a significant fact in foreign policy” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.425-426).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Non-alignment, United States, Soviet Union, Mapam, David Ben-Gurion