CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/04/29

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995612
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: April 29, 1956

Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 CO2995612
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
777.-6-737126R-E.T.
/71/7
3.5(c)
29 April 1956
Copy No. 103
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLAS
I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS, CHANCED TO: TS
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
AUT H
DKr " REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
1. HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR SAYS RAKOSI'S
DISMISSAL IMMINENT (page 3).
2. HUSSAIN HINTS JORDAN MAY ACCEPT SOVIET BLOC
ARMS page 4).
3. SOVIET OFFER OF OIL EQUIPMENT FOR ARGENTINA
REPORTED (page 5).
4. FRENCH ACCUSE PRO-GERMANS OF "CAMPAIGN
OF TERROR" IN SAAR (page 6).
29 Apr 56
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 7)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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1. HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR SAYS RAKOSPS
DISMISSAL IMMINENT
Matyas Rakosi, first secretary of
the Hungarian Workers (Communist)
Party probably will be replaced soon,
Rakosi was meeting increased opposition from the party
central committee.
Comment Opposition to Rakosi within the
Hungarian party has been growing
for some time and has become even more open since
the Soviet 20th Party Congress in February. This anti-
Rakosi sentiment has undoubtedly been strengthened by
the demotion of Premier Chervenkov, Bulgarian strong
man, earlier this month.
however, probably belongs to the "nationalist" faction of
the party which opposes Rakosi, and his statement that
Rakosi will probably be replaced may reflect only wishful
thinking. The ambassador has been very friendly with
Western diplomats and has often expressed views critical
of Soviet policies and personalities.
29 Apr 56
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2. HUSSAIN HINTS JORDAN MAY ACCEPT SOVIET
BLOC ARMS
King Hussain told American officials
in Amman on 24 April that circum-
stances may drive Jordan either to
ask for American arms or to accept
Cz�ch arms, "which we can get tomorrow if we ask for
them." Hussain asked what the United States would do if
Jordan presented a formal request for arms.
Ambassador Mallory comments that
there was an atmosphere of urgency in the talks. He
adds that Hussain doubtless feels he cannot remain on
the throne without either surrendering to, or in some way
countering, the anti-Western pressures surrounding him.
Comment Hussain probably is under heavy pres-
sure from Jordanian army elements to
purchase arrns from the Soviet bloc and searching for means
to maintain his position. The recent Syrian gift to Jordan
of at least 1,000 Czech submachine guns has probably whetted
the army's appetite.
Egyptian prime minister Nasr has prob-
ably encouraged Jordan, as he has other Arab states, to
purchase bloc arms. Since Jordan has no significant prod-
ucts for a barter deal, and would require outside financial
assistance to purchase arms, Egypt may see an opportunity
to accomplish its ends by proposing that Jordan accept Arab
financial offers to supplant its annual British subsidy.
29 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
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3. SOVIET OFFER OF OIL EQUIPMENT FOR
ARGENTINA REPORTED
The chief of the Soviet commercial
mission in Buenos Aires visited the
administrator of the Argentine State
Oilfields monopoly (YPF)
to offer Soviet oil drilling and other petroleum equip-
ment needed by YPF,
The Soviet representative also offered steel
sheets adequate to cover 80 percent of the material needed
for the construction of YPF' s planned pipeline system.
The terms would include credit of 15 to 20 years and 2.5
percent annual interest.
The YPF administrator is reported to
have been impressed and to have asked for a written offer
as soon as possible.
Comment The reported Soviet offer appears to be
in response to the Argentine announce-
ment on 7 March that YPF would publish "on both sides of
the iron curtain" a call for bids for the financing of
$250,000,000 worth of pipeline, gas line, and miscellaneous
petroleum equipment. Bids were to be submitted by 15 May
and provide for payments to begin in 1959 and be spread over
a 15-year period.
Pipeline construction is being given
priority in Argentina government planning to reduce im-
ports of petroleum, which costs Argentina some $200,000,000
annually. Argentine exports to the USSR amounted to about
$36,000,000 in 1954. (Concurred in by ORR)
29 Apr 56
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4. FRENCH ACCUSE PRO-GERMANS OF "CAMPAIGN
OF TERROR" IN SAAR
According to a French Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Foreign Min-
ister Pineau and Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs Maurice Faure
mpaign of terror" in the Saar against
Saar ex-premier Hoffman's political party will, if not
checked, cause French-German negotiations on the ter-
ritory to break down. The Foreign Ministry spokesman
said that the meeting scheduled for late May between
.French premier Mollet and West German chancellor
Adenauer is the only hope for improvement. He stated
that the West Germans have flatly rejected the concept
that the French-Saar economic union should be phased
out gradually over a period of five to ten years and have
called for its immediate dissolution.
A French senator told the embassy on
26 April that he had seen Hoffman in Paris and that the
latter feared for his life in the Saar.
Comment = Since the unsuccessful 27 March meet-
ing of Faure and West German state
secretary Hallstein, both sides have apparently marked
time awaiting the Mollet-Adenauer meeting. In the interim
Heinrich Schneider, the neo-Nazi leader in the Saar, is ap-
parently attempting to recoup his reportedly waning political
fortunes by stepping up his anti-French campaign. While
there has been no evidence of violence or actual "terror,"
there have been threats by pro-German extremists of polit-
ical and commercial retaliation or social ostracism against
those Hoffman supporters who remain politically active out-
side the pro-German parties.
29 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 6
CONFIDENTIAL
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--T�OP�SE�RET ON.
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 29 April)
Three incidents on the Egyptian-
Israeli border, and one on the Jordanian-Israeli border
were reported over the week end. An Israeli policeman
was killed in a clash with Egyptian national guards in
the Gaza strip, and one Israeli soldier was killed and
two others wounded when their vehicle struck what
Israel charged was a "freshly planted" land mine five
miles east of the Gaza strip. Israel also charged that
Egyptian troops kidnaped an Israeli youth from a settle-
ment near Nahal. Jordanian infiltrators were reported
to have blasted a well in an Israeli settlement in the
Lakhish area. (Press)
United Nations relief officials have
reported to the press rumors that Arab refugees living
in the Gaza strip are preparing a "peaceful mass march"
back to their former homes in Israel in June. No source
can be found to confirm these rumors, but many of the
250, 000 refugees believe them. (Press)
On 26 April, Cairo informed its arms
mission in Prague that the "air force needs airfield con-
struction experts to advise on and supervise the construc-
tion of new bases." Deliveries of Soviet bloc jet fighter
and light bomber aircraft have over-taxed Egypt's present
airfield facilities.
29 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
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