CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/02/16

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03149175
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: February 16, 1956

Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 C03149175
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
/
TOP SECRET
DOCUMENT NO.
/4 3.5(c) /
3.3(h)(2)
16 February 1956
L�PY I". 103
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
Li DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO:
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: I "rwl% CO REVIEWER
Is S
LO
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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TOP SECRET
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CONTENTS
1. ISRAEL ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF WORK ON
BANAT YACOV PROJECT (page 3).
2. KHRUSHCHEV'S REPORT TO THE 20TH PARTY CONGRESS
(page 4).
3. USSR ENCOURAGES ARABS TO HOLD OUT FOR IMPLE-
MENTATION OF UN RESOLUTIONS ON PALESTINE
(page 5).
4. PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT PROMOTES RAPPROCHEMENT
WITH SINO-SOVIET BLOC (page 6).
5. POUJADE REPORTED WINNING SOME "RESPECTABLE"
SUPPORT (page 7).
6. CABINET CHANGES IN SPAIN
(page 8).
7, NEPAL TO DISCUSS TREATY WITH COMMUNIST CHINA
(page 9).
YI KI-PUNG SEEN AS RHEE'S PROBABLE CHOICE FOR
SOUTH KOREAN VICE PRESIDENT (page 10)
16 Feb 56
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 11)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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CONFIDENTIAL
1 ISRAEL ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF WORK ON
BANAT YACOV PROJECT
Israeli prime minister Ben-Gurion's
statement on 14 February that plans
to resume work on the Banat Yacov
diversionary canal project have been
"shelved" for the time being postpones, but does not elim-
inate, the threat of war over this issue between Israel
and Syria.
The Israelis have never expressed any
degree of confidence that the Arabs could be persuaded to
accept the Johnston plan for the development of the Jordan
River valley. Israel's leaders almost certainly have not
changed their minds in this respect. The shelving of the
Banat Yacov project appears, therefore, to be an effort to
convince the West of Israel's reasonableness on this sub-
ject as well as on the larger issue of war and peace in the
area,
This Israeli action and the recently
reported Egyptian undertaking to urge "further considera-
tion" of the Johnston plan among the Arabs suggest that
neither Israel nor Egypt is seeking a war at this time.
16 Feb 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
Page 3
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2. ICEIRUSHCHEV'S REPORT TO THE 20TH PARTY CONGRESS
The range of topics covered in Khrushchey's
report to the 20th Party Congress and his
confident manner of treating them, as well
as the appointment of large numbers of his
proteges to the guiding organs of the congress, are indicative
of his dominant position as "first among equals" in the party
presidium.
In the section of his report devoted to in-
ternational affairs, Khrushchev set forth in clear and forth-
right terms the doctrinal foundation of the major lines of So-
viet policy which have been developing over the past year.
With the exception of his endorsement of a ban on thermo-
nuclear weapons tests, the first by a top-level Soviet leader,
Khrushchev's report contained no new proposals on specific
East-West questions. The importance of his speech lies
rather in the strong impetus it was intended to provide to two
of the major aims of current Soviet policy: pursuit of diplo-
matic, and economic intervention in the Middle East and South
Asia and the development of new relationships with the inter-
national Socialist movement.
Khrushchev devoted special attention to
Soviet relations with the Afro-Asian states and included "peace-
loving" non-Communist states of this area along with the
Sino-Soviet bloc in a vast "zone of peace" which now and in
the future will play a decisive role in world affairs.
The Soviet party chief introduced major
doctrinal revisions on such basic questions as the inevitabil-
ity of war and the transition to socialism. He asserted in
effect that the "Marxist-Leninist precept that wars are inev-
itable" is now outmoded, and denied that the only road to so-
cialism was through civil war and revolution, asserting that
it is possible "to go over to socialism by using parliamentary
means," His modification of these doctrines was intended to
have a strong effect on Socialists and other "patriotic forces"
in the non-Communist world in what promises to be a major
effort to establish and exploit popular fronts.
The fact that Khrushchev was the one to
make these changes in doctrine will probably add to his stature
as a leader in the Communist world.
16 Feb 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
Page 4
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