Dulles on the Road

Armed with a thick, confidential black book which summarizes 160 foreign problems culled from top secret State and Defense files, John Foster Dulles 'went marching through the Middle East. P: Israel, his first stop after Egypt, went to great lengths to protect the most important official visitor the new state has welcomed in its five years. Hours before his Constellation arrived (an hour late), 1,000 police cordoned off the Lydda airport, banned other plane movements and unofficial phone calls, mounted machine guns, patrolled side roads with police dogs.

In Tel Aviv, Mistress Sharett prodded anxiously at the roast of beef (frozen), which she feared might not be tender enough for the Foreign Minister's official dinner that night; in Jerusalem, Mistress Ben-Gurion summoned the sentry outside her home to help her tear the skin off a monster halibut (also frozen), which she wanted to steam with lemon sauce for the Secretary's lunch with the Premier next day.

Dulles stayed in Israel two days, listened to anxiously presented analyses, promised nothing. At his departure, "Premier David Ben-Gurion (who showed how important he thought the occasion was by abandoning his open-necked shirt for a gabardine suit and patterned necktie) handed the Secretary a new Hebrew Testament, the first ever printed in Jerusalem.

P:Jordan, the next stop, greeted Dulles with an olive branch, which someone thrust into his hand, and an unscheduled, indignant lecture. Said Aaref el Aaref, Arab historian and former mayor of Jerusalem's Old City: "Our . . . friendship has been imperiled by the Truman Administration, which not only created Israel but has been keeping it as a thorn in our side." Replied Dulles: "At home we Americans heatedly debate many issues, but we are not in the habit of criticizing one another outside the country. I therefore cannot agree with your criticism of a former American Administration." At a candlelight dinner at U.S. Ambassador Joseph Green's, young King Hussein, attired in a dinner jacket, bounded in like an American teen-ager come to pick up his date, stayed on to impress the Secretary with his earnest concern for his poor country. Dulles asked permission to visit some of the refugee camps; Jordan security officers refused, explaining: "We're not taking any chances." P:General Adib Shishekly, boss of Syria, the fourth stop, seemed to impress Dulles more than any other Arab leader, even more than Egypt's Reluctant Dictator Naguib. Shishekly was one Arab leader actually willing to discuss current dangerous matters, such as Middle East defense and refugee resettlement, instead of old antipathies. At U.S. Ambassador James Moose's reception, the two ducked out into the garden with a few aides, conferred animatedly for two hours, came away with satisfied grins. Good guess: the U.S. would undertake to arm and help train Syria's tough little army.

P:Dulles delighted Premier Saeb Salaam of Lebanon, at his fifth stop, by his candor. Stoutly denying that U.S. Middle East policy is Zionist-dictated, Dulles said that the Jews as a whole had voted against him in the 1949 New York senatorial race (which he lost) and generally against Ike in 1952. Said Dulles: the U.S. wants to recapture the Arab world's friendship. Said the Premier: "You must show us acts, not words."

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