Middle East Commitments

Report Outline
Big-Power Commitments in Middle East
Shifting Alignments in the Arab World
United Nations and Palestine Conflict
Special Focus

Big-Power Commitments in Middle East

Secretary general Dag Hammarskjold's recent peace mission to the Middle East has been sufficiently successful to afford a breathing spell in a situation of tension that for weeks threatened to explode into war. Agreements achieved through the perseverance of the head of the United Nations secretariat neither removed fundamental obstacles to a settlement between Israel and the Arab states nor altered the military balance of power in that region. However, they helped to pin down the obligation of those countries to stop the clashes that have exacerbated their relations and made the region a serious danger spot. The resulting calm may be only temporary, but it at least gives opportunity to press the search for solutions that will eliminate dangers of world war from that quarter.

Patterns of Policy in the Troubled Mideast

Within and outside the Middle East, the governments with a stake there have been re-examining and reappraising their military, economic, and political commitments. Two major lines of diplomatic action and maneuver have emerged within recent weeks:

1. Under U.N, auspices, efforts were set in motion to work out more effective measures for enforcement of the existing Arab-Israeli truce with the parties directly concerned. They were accompanied by cautious explorations to determine whether negotiations to remove basic obstacles to a permanent settlement could be put under way with any promise of success.