CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/04/18

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995602
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: April 18, 1956

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18 April 1956
CURRENT /
/ INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENT NO.
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BULLETINNEXT REVIEW DATE:
ciA REVIEWER:, /
0OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE /
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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Copy No. 103
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CONTENTS
1. SOVIET STATEMENT ON THE NEAR EAST
(page 3).
2. MOLOTOV AND MIKOYAN ATTEND ISRAELI RECEPTION
(page 4).
3. COMINFOFtM DISSOLUTION ANNOUNCED
(page 5).
4. DEMANDS FOR RAKOSIS REMOVAL INCREASE
(page 6).
5. INDIAN-PAK1STANI RELATIONS DETERIORATING
(page 7).
18 Apr 56
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
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1. SOVIET STATEMENT ON THE NEAR EAST
The Soviet Foreign Ministry's state-
ment of 17 April expressing the USSR's
readiness to contribute with other states
to the peaceful solution of unsolved ques-
tions in the Near East is another bid to gain Western accept-
ance of the Soviet interest in Near Eastern affairs. The
statement is timed to take full advantage of Britain's difficul-
ties in the Near East at the time of the Bulganin-Khrushchev
visit to the United Kingdom beginning on 18 April. The state-
ment coincides with a growing conviction in France that the
USSR must be included in any attempt to solve Near East prob-
lems.
Moscow probably intends the statement as
a reply to President Eisenhower's announcement on 9 April
pledging American aid to any Near Eastern state that might be
the victim of aggression. It asserts that the Soviet government
considers "illegal and inadmissible" any attempt to use the
Arab-Israeli dispute to justify "interference from without" in
the Arab states or the introduction of foreign troops into the
area. The statement is evidently intended to give notice that
the USSR will not agree to any Western action on the Arab-
Israeli dispute except as taken through the UN Security Council.
The statement calls for "interested parties"
to refrain from any action that might exacerbate the "situation
of the existing demarcation line" and to try to alleviate the po-
sition of the "hundreds of thousands of Arab refugees deprived
of their homes and means of subsistence."
18 Apr 56
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2. MOLOTOV AND MIKOYAN ATTEND ISRAELI RECEPTION
The attendance of Foreign Minister
Molotov and First Deputy Premier
Mikoyan at the Independence Day re-
ception at the Israeli embassy in
Moscow reportedly is the first time since the establish-
ment of the Israeli state that such high-ranking members
of the Soviet hierarchy have attended such an Israeli function.
Only a minor protocol officer attended the reception last
year.
Soviet leaders may believe this diplo-
matic gesture will gain for the USSR some credit for being
impartial in the Arab-Israeli dispute. The Soviet Foreign
Ministry statement on 17 April mentioned Israel, along with
the Arab states, in an expression of sympathy and support
for states attempting to strengthen their independence.
The Soviet pro-Arab policy is unlikely
to be compromised by gestures toward Israel since Arabs
will interpret them as a restraining influence on the Israelis
in the period before arms deliveries give the Arab states
military superiority in the area.
18 Apr 56
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3. COMINFORM DISSOLUTION ANNOUNCED
The dissolution of the Cominform,
announced by Soviet leaders Mikoyan
and Shepilov on 17 April, is presum-
ably intended by Moscow as further
"proof" of Soviet willingness to remove the causes of inter-
national tension. During their trip to India in December,
Bulganin and Khrushchev strongly defended the Cominform
against suggestions by Nehru that it be dissolved. The tim-
ing of the step may be intended to improve the reception of
Bulganin and Khrushchev in London.
Having been expelled from the Comin-
form in 1948, Belgrade will welcome the dissolution as a
further vindication of its anti-Stalin policy. The Yugoslays
will presumably now consider the way clearer for them to
achieve a working arrangement between Western European
Socialist parties and Soviet bloc Communist parties. This
was probably one of the main purposes of the Soviet move,
which may be followed eventually by proposals for an inter-
national organization including both Socialist and Communist
parties.
Khrushchev told the Yugoslav ambassador
in February that the Cominform was of only secondary impor-
tance as a mechanism for interparty consultations, and had
not met since 1949. Apparently its major func ion sinee then
1-
has been the publication of its weekly journal.
18 Apr 56
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4. DEMANDS FOR RAKOSPS REMOVAL INCREASE
The American legation in Budapest
has received a number of reports
Which in-
dicate that strife within the Commu-
nist Party over Rakosies status has
reached an unprecedented level.
At a meeting of the Hungarian Writers'
Association on 30 March, certain writers reportedly con-
demned Rakosi for his "unbridled demagoguery" and de-
manded his resignation; similar demands were reportedly
made of Rakosi in person at a recent party activist meet-
ing in Budapest. Legation sources also report that Rakosi
encountered serious opposition at the central committee
meeting which was called to discuss Rajk's "rehabilitation"
and that Rakosi walked out of the meeting in a rage.
Comment Moscow reaffirmed its support for
Rakosi as recently as 4 ApriL The
mounting opposition in the Hungarian party, however, which
will be strengthened by the resignation of Chervenkov in
Bulgaria, increases the likelihood that Moscow will with-
draw its support of Rakosi. His removal would be another
indication that the USSR is permitting the Satellite parties
to settle their own internal problems. It would be viewed
favorably by a majority of Hungarian Communists and
would provide a means to restore a semblance of unity
to the faction-torn party. It would also remove another sym-
bol of Stalinism in the Orbit and would be another step toward
restoring relations between Yugoslavia and the Satellites.
18 Apr 56
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5, INDIAN-PAKISTANI RELATIONS DETERIORATING
Comment on:
rension between India and Pakistan
las increased following more than a
lozen border incidents since mid-
February and Indian prime minister
gehru's recent statements ruling out
I plebiscite on Kashmir.
Palsistan is genuine. New Delhi reportedly believes tnat
1957 will be a critical year because by then American mil-
itary aid will have given Pakistan arms superiority.
General Thimmayya, former chairman
of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea
and now commander of the Southern District of the Indian
army, is convinced that war with Pakistan over Kashmir
is inevitable in late 1957 or early 1958
War between the two countries does not
appear likely at the present time.
Each side can still resort to measures
other than war: Pakistan has already decided to return the
Kashmir issue to the UN and the problem will probably be
discussed at the Commonwealth prime ministers' confer-
ence in June
18 Apr 56
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 17 April)
On the night of 16-17 April a mess hall
at an Israeli cement factory near the Jordan border was wrecked
by an explosion. (Press)
25 Egyptian-directed terrorists were recently returned t irom
Jordan to Cairo in an Arab Legion aircraft following completion
of missions in Israel.
Cairo instructed the Egyptian
arms mission in Prague to increase the number of four-wheel
drive military trucks under an existing contract to 500 each of
the 5-ton ZIS-151 and the 2-ton GAZ-63, and added that it required
60 ambulances as ,well.
18 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
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