the interest terms agreed to between the Government of the United States and the Government of India, on or before January 1, 1957, as interest on the principal of any debt incurred under this Act, and not to exceed a total of $5,000,000, shall, when paid, be placed in a special deposit account in the Treasury of the United States, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, to remain available until expended. This account shall be available to the Department of State for the following uses:

(1) Studies, instruction, technical training, and other educational activities in the United States and in its Territories or possessions (A) for students, professors, other academic persons, and technicians who are citizens of India, and (B) with the approval of appropriate agencies, institutions, or organizations in India, for students, professors, other academic persons, and technicians who are citizens of the United States to participate in similar activities in India, including in both cases travel expenses, tuition, subsistence and other allowances and expenses incident to such activities; and

(2) The selection, purchase, and shipment of (A) American scientific, technical, and scholarly books and books of American literature for higher educational and research institutions of India, (B) American laboratory and technical equipment for higher education and research in India, and (C) the interchange of similar materials and equipment from India for higher education and research in the United States. (b) Funds made available in accordance with the provisions stated above may be used to defray costs of administering the program authorized herein.

(c) Disbursements from the special deposit account shall be made by the Division of Disbursement of the Treasury Department, upon vouchers duly certified by the Secretary of State or by authorized certifying officers of the Department of State.

Approved June 15, 1951.

21. EMERGENCY FOOD AID TO AFGHANISTAN: Statement by the Department of State, March 23, 1954 1

The Governments of the United States and Afghanistan on March 20 signed an agreement under which the United States will provide 12,000 tons of wheat or wheat flour to meet a threatened food shortage in Afghanistan.2 The aid will be sent under section 550 of the Mutual Security Act of 1951, as amended, which authorizes the use of mutual security funds to finance the purchase of surplus agricultural commodities produced in the United States. It further authorizes the President to enter into agreements with friendly countries for the sale and export of these commodities and the acceptance of local currencies in payment.

1 Department of State Bulletin, Apr. 12,【1954, p. 566.

TIAS 2934; 5 UST 420.

3 Infra, pp. 3085-3086.

This agreement was entered into at the request of the Government of Afghanistan, which found that the food requirements of its people could not be met during the coming months without outside assistance.

The Afghan funds received in payment for the wheat or wheat flour will be used, as authorized by the mutual security legislation, for helping in the economic development of Afghanistan.

The Foreign Operations Administration will administer the program.1

22. HIGH ASWAN DAM PROJECT: Statement by the Department of State, December 17, 1955 2

Mr. Abdel Moneim El Kaissouni, Egyptian Minister of Finance, met yesterday with Acting Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, Jr., British Ambassador Sir Roger Makins and World Bank President Eugene Black for final talks before his departure for Cairo.

During their stay in Washington, Mr. Kaissouni and his colleagues have been carrying on discussions with the management of the World Bank and representatives of the United States and United Kingdom Governments concerning possible assistance in the execution of the High Aswan Dam project.

The United States and British Governments assured the Egyptian Government through Mr. Kaissouni of their support in this project, which would be of inestimable importance in the development of the Egyptian economy and in the improvement of the welfare of the Egyptian people. Such assistance would take the form of grants from the United States and the United Kingdom toward defraying foreign exchange costs of the first stages of the work. This phase, involving the Coffer Dam, foundations for the main dam, and auxiliary work will take from four to five years. Further, assurance has been given to Mr. Kaissouni that the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would, subject to legislative authority, be prepared to consider sympathetically in the light of then existing circumstances further support toward financing the later stages to supplement World Bank financing.

Mr. Kaissouni plans to leave Washington for Egypt today, and it is understood that he will report to his Government on his talks here. Final understandings with the British and American Governments and the World Bank will await Mr. Kaissouni's consultation with the Egyptian Government.

1 On Jan. 8, 1953, the Department of State and the Export-Import Bank of Washington announced an emergency loan of $1.5 million to Afghanistan for the procurement of wheat and flour from the U.S.; Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 19, 1953, p. 103.

2 Ibid., Dec. 26, 1955, pp. 1050-1051.

23. JORDAN RIVER DEVELOPMENT: Address by the Personal Representative of the President (Eric Johnston), December 1, 1953 1

1

From time immemorial, the Biblical waters of the Jordan have tumbled down the towering slopes of Mount Hermon in the Lebanon, paused in the Sea of Galilee, and rolled swiftly south to waste themselves in the salt depths of the Dead Sea.

The Jordan is a short silt-laden stream, plunging for most of its 200 miles through earth's deepest valley, a thousand feet below the level of the sea.

It is one of mankind's most beloved streams. It flows through the very heartlands of three great religions as consistently as it moves across the barren geography that confines its downward course.

From the banks of the Jordan, the ancient Israelites, wearied by years of wandering in the desert, first glimpsed the Promised Land. In its turgid waters, Jesus Christ was baptized by John. Along its winding course, the Prophet Mohammed preached the word of Allah.

Yes, the River Jordan has enriched history and song but, unhappily, not the arid lands through which it flows. These noble waters have held spiritual significance for man down through the ages, but they have given him relatively little material benefit.

And because the life-giving blessings of these waters are so sorely needed by the suffering peoples who today inhabit this hallowed and historic region, the President of the United States, only this October, commissioned me to go there bearing a proposal a proposal intended ultimately to make the valley of the Jordan blossom and bloom as it never has before.

When the President first asked me to undertake this mission, I suggested in my stead other Americans who, I felt, were better acquainted with the area and the situation there. But finally, with many misgivings, I followed the wishes of the President and set out for Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel.

I got no farther than Paris when word was received of new incidents and charges which inflamed the tensions between Arabs and Israelis and soon became the subject of United Nations Security Council discussions.

My first reaction-and I must say I did not have a second one until I had spoken with some of the leaders in the Near East-was that what little chance the mission had of succeeding in the first place was now just about gone.

It was not long, however, before I realized that though such incidents increased the difficulties of the assignment they also made it more urgent and necessary.

1 Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 28, 1953, pp. 891-893. Mr. Johnston was appointed by the President in October 1953 as his personal representative with the rank of Ambassador to visit the Near East in order to explore the possibilities of an improvement in the general situation of that region, having in view as a major purpose the development of the water resources of the Jordan River Valley on a regional basis. See ibid., Oct. 26, 1953, p. 553, and Nov. 30, 1953, pp. 749– 750. Mr. Johnston's address was made over CBS radio.

I am happy to say that, in my capacity as personal representative of the President of the United States, I was received with the warm hospitality traditional to the region, and I was granted a courteous and attentive hearing wherever I went.

I would like to correct a general impression that developed at the very outset. I did not go to the Near East with a plan. What I had in my brief case was a proposal.

This proposal was to urge the careful consideration of a concept, a concept which envisioned the coordinated development of the Jordan River watershed. I am pleased to report that, without exception, the statesmen of the affected countries are now studying that proposal. Now it is true that I took with me charts and tables based on studies made by a distinguished American engineering firm working under the direction of the Tennessee Valley Authority at the behest of the United Nations, which have since been issued in the form of a report by the United Nations agency responsible for the Arab refugees from Palestine.1

The report also contained suggestions for the construction of dams and power stations without regard to national frontiers or political boundaries.

But I did not ask or expect a "yes" or "no" answer from anyone in connection with these suggestions. On the contrary, I did not feel that any definite reply made before careful consideration had been given to the proposal would be in order.

These studies, which themselves drew on previous research, do illustrate what can be done and how many material benefits can be showered on war victim and pioneer alike through the modern utilization of the water resources of the Jordan basin.

Thanks to 20th century engineering practices and administrative coordination, it is estimated that nearly 240,000 acres of land now idle and unproductive can be put into the richest kind of production. Most of this land, of little use or value to anyone now, would yield three crops a year, so that by American standards we may figure that in effect the equivalent of some 720,000 acres would be put to fertile work giving sustenance to hungry people, work to the idling, and new wealth and revenue to the nations involved.

What is more, in the course of parallel development more than 65,000 additional kilowatts of power would be made available to turn the wheels of societies already on the move.

The proposal holds out real promise to all parties concerned. To the Arab leaders of the area, it offers a way to meet their peoples' growing demands for progress and a better life.

Mass lethargy in the Arab world is fast disappearing before the surge of new aspirations. It is a world in transition, straining at the fetters of economic feudalism, seeking opportunities which our times offer.

Arab leadership is conscious of this vast stirring of peoples long

1 The Unified Development of the Water Resources of the Jordan Valley Region, by Chas. T. Main, Inc. (Boston, 1953).

quiescent. It knows that social revolution has begun and that it must lead that revolution or be swallowed up by it.

To Israel, on the other hand, the Jordan Valley development furthers the possibilities to forge ahead with ambitious and urgent plans to wrest every possible benefit from the meager resources on which Israel must depend.

To both the Arabs and Israelis it suggests a practical way of easing an explosive issue largely responsible for so much of the tension between them, the alleviation of the plight of the Arab refugees who fled their homes in Palestine.

I truly believe that the United Nations report will contribute to the well-being of all the peoples in the Near East. I hope the development will take the form this report recommends, or something like it, but in my conversations with the leaders of the Arab states and Israel I made it clear that modifications would be welcomed.

The main thing right now, however, is general support of the principle of development of the Jordan watershed in which each of the affected states would acknowledge a responsibility as well as advance a claim. The precise nature of the plan finally adopted is a secondary matter so long as it is equitable, economic, and efficient.

Now one might ask, is it realistic to hope that nations still in a state of war could be expected to participate in any coordinated development?

I think it is practical and realistic so long as the coordinating is done by some agent above reproach and beyond prejudice. I should think that the United Nations could be trusted to do a fair and effective job.

It is not a prerequisite that any of the states involved commit themselves directly or indirectly to signing an agreement with any of its neighbors or of working with them. Each country could undertake unilateral commitments to the coordinating agency, which could serve as a clearing house and a catalytic agent.

This, I might add, is part of the proposal I presented to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and it is being given consideration by their leaders.

Other questions which could readily be raised but which can be promptly answered are: "Why can't individual states go forward alone with independent irrigation and power projects involving the waters of the Jordan and its tributaries? Couldn't the benefits of the Jordan watershed be achieved piecemeal?"

The sad facts and frightening possibilities that stare us in the face make rhetorical questions out of such queries. In the first place, even if the Arabs and the Israelis were living in neighborly harmony and sweet bliss today, there would be sure to be a rumpus over the contested waters of the Jordan. It would at best be difficult to decide who is entitled to how much.

Squabbles over riparian rights and water use are as common, and often as violent, as romantic quarrels between suitors.

In our own country, Kansans and Coloradans have tiffed over the Colorado River even when Arizonians and Californians have not.