Appendix 1 - US involvement in water development in the Jordan basin

Summary

The danger to world peace in the Middle East is clear to us all. The unrelenting antagonism between the Arab states and Israel is invitation to mischief by the Kremlin. No one can say how swiftly or in what direction the flame of open war between Arab and Jew might spread. But no one can doubt that the strategists of Communism would be quick to fan the flame. Chaos is their ally.

Much of American foreign economic policy today is premised on the assumption that healthy social progress is the most effective antidote to the Communist virus, which, in common with its bacteriological cousins, strikes hardest at run-down, poorly nourished systems. For this reason, we have undertaken a global effort to help less-advanced peoples help themselves toward a better and more rewarding life. But in the Middle East, the continuing tension between Israel and her Arab neighbors is a massive barrier to economic development and the kind of progress we believe the people of the region must and can achieve.

Until there is rapprochement between the nations of the region, social progress is going to be slow. Until there is progress, mass discontent will not abate, but swell. While the discontent persists, the ground remains fertile for the seeds of Communism. They are being sown there now.

From the text of a lecture by Eric Johnston at Cornell University, 6 May 1954; US Information Service Daily News Bulletin, vol. 6, no. 88, copy in INA 3688/9, “masa u-matan im Johnston”