CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/02/19

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Keywords: 2018 Sanitization
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03161996
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: February 19, 1957

/4
/
Approved
LLI
LL
TI
A.)*7 for..1511as.5221.9./;.1.2P4 CO16199:0:117A07/77/0/yd
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
19 February 1957
Copy No.
DO C: ::%1INT NO. _
NO CHANC,r2?. IN CLASS.
CLA'SS. CHANGED TO: TS
NEXT nEVIEW DATE:
AUTF DATE "274REVIWER:
131
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Top SECRET
for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
N.1
CONTENTS
1. USSR EXPECTS NEGATIVE WESTERN RESPONSE TO
ITS MIDDLE EAST PROPOSALS (page 3).
2.
MOBILIZING
IS LIS
(page 4).
c. ASIAN COMMUNIST FRONT 'TO HOLD FIRST CONFERENCE
IN CAIRO (page 5).
4.
IN SYRIA
(page 6).
FURTHER UNREST
5. USSR REPORTEDLY BACKS DOWN ON AGREEMENT TO
ASSIST YUGOSLAV ALUMINUM INDUSTRY (page 7).
, V
I6. BRITISH BELIEVE EOKA TERRORIST CAPABILITIES NOW
SEVERELY LIMITED (page 8).
.11)
C, 7. SOUTH KOREAN ENVOY "OPTIMISTIC" CONCERNING RE-
OPENING OF TALKS WITH JAPAN (page 9).
8. ISHIBASHTS ABILITY TO RESUME DUTIES IN DOUBT
(page 10).
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
1. L_A-4 I
1. USSR EXPECTS NEGATIVE WESTERN RESPONSE TO
ITS MIDDLE EAST PROPOSALS
Soviet deputy foreign minister Zorin
told Egyptian ambassador Kuni on
15 February that the six proposals con-
tained in the Soviet note of 11 February
should be "taken together as a whole"
and that Western maneuvers to modify or reject some of them
would be unacceptable.
Zorin predicted that a complete negative attitude,
"which is more probable," would be very difficult for the West
to justify.
In requesting closer liaison between the
USSR and Egypt, Zorin complained that neither Moscow, its
UN delegates nor the Soviet ambassador in Cairo was familiar
with developments in Egypt, the main line of Egyptian policy, or
the information necessary to be of help.
Zorin warned that the introduction of inter-
national forces into the area constituted a great danger. He
added that Hammarskjold was influenced by "his New York at-
mosphere" and that "we are dealing with a system through which
America acts as a real force:'
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
,10 art. Ira en, 11, dre't "IP
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
NINOPI
2.
ISRAELIS MOBILIZING
ALLEGES
Israeli military police called up army re-
serves in Jerusalem on 17 February and
that an Israeli parachute battalion arrived
in Jerusalem on the evening of 16 February,
Israeli aur
thorities were also reported to be requisitioning civilian ve-
hicles. reports of Israeli concentrations
opposite the Tulkarm area in the northern bulge of West Jordan,
the presence of French aircraft and airmen on
Ramat David airfield in Israel had been confirmed.
this
information confirmed earlier Syrian reports of a partial Is-
raeli mobilization. the Jor-
danians would reconnoiter and
would reinforce West Jordan if it appeared that Israel intended
to carry out operations against Jordan.
Comment
The reported Israeli moves in the Jerusalem
area may reflect a limited mobilization there,
Military police have been used to summon army reserves in re-
cent covert mobilizations.
Israel had undertaken limited mobilization were not sub-
stantiated by the US army attach�n Israel as of 11 February,
and both the Syrians and the Jordanians have exhibited consid-
erable nervousness over Israeli intentions.
additional French-built jet fighters have recently arrived
in Israel, and command echelons of Israeli units on the Jordanian
border are believed to be in a high state of readiness.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
TCW) c.PCDFT
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
kf./ NI' Wild /
Aft
3. ASIAN COMMUNIST FRONT TO HOLD FIRST
CONFERENCE IN CAIRO
Comment on:
President Nasr has approved the con-
vocation of an "Asian-African Solidarity
Conference" --at a date as yet unannounced--
in Cairo, according to Dr. Anup Singh,
secretary of the "Asian Solidarity Corn-
mittee:' This conference is the first planned by a Communist-
dominated organization which has the potential to become the
major Communist front for Asia. Nasr may try to use the
conference to propagandize Asian-African support of Egypt's
position vis-a-vis Israel and the West.
The committee was set up in 1955 by the
Asian Conference for the Relaxation of International Tensions,
which met in New Delhi under the influence of the Communist-
sponsored World Peace Council. National committees were
established in Communist China, the USSR, North Korea and
North Vietnam, as well as in India and Japan, in 1955 and 1956.
Although the committee has been successful in obtaining sup-
port from some non-Communist Asian personalities and Indians
play the primary role in the secretariat, most of the leaders
are also officials of the World Peace Council.
The USSR is accepted by the Solidarity Com-
mittee as an Asian country, and with Communist China may use
the conference to further new economic and "cultural" relation-
ships in Asia and Africa. Inclusion of Africa in the conference
suggests that an attempt will be made to broaden the geographi-
cal scope of the cultural and economic activities of the com-
mittee.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
Adr T171171-1 Trims.4 7-
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
4,
UNREST IN SYRIA
Comment
FURTHER
Incidents in Syria might be triggered by
the "treason" trials now drawing to a
close. Unrest exists among some rightist groups as well as
in certain army quarters. The Populist Party and the Syrian
Social Nationalist Party are reported secretly organizing re-
sistance in Aleppo with the aim of stirring up the public
against the government and demanding an end to the state of
martial law.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 6
SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
*At tat,
5. USSR REPORTEDLY BACKS DOWN ON AGREEMENT TO
ASSIST YUGOSLAV ALUMINUM INDUSTRY
The Soviet Union has made it clear that
the East German-Soviet agreement to aid
Yugoslavia in building an aluminum com-
plex cannot be put into effect until 1961
when the current Soviet Five-Year Plan
will be completed,
Comment Soviet cancellation of the $175,000,000
credit granted in August 1956 for the con-
struction of a large aluminum complex in Yugoslavia to be
completed by 1960 clearly indicates that the USSR is now at-
tempting to bring economic pressure to bear in the ideologi-
cal struggle between Moscow and Belgrade. According to
the Yugoslays, negotiations in Moscow for a new trade agree-
ment have been proceeding with difficulty. Trade talks with
the East Germans were suspended recently when Belgrade
withheld indirect recognition of the Pankow regime by refus-
ing to sign the trading arrangement on the governmental level.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
r"040-4 r"
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Nov
6. BRITISH BELIEVE EOKA TERRORIST CAPABILITIES
NOW SEVERELY LIMITED
British authorities on Cyprus are confi-
dent that their recent "very substantial"
successes against EOKA have severely
limited the terrorist organization's ability
to carry out its plans for violence during
on Cyprus. These officials also told the Amer-
ican consul that they have "extensive factual evidence" of
Athens' complicity in EOICA's campaign for use in the debate.
Comment
Recent indications suggest that British
forces on Cyprus may have crippled EOKA
so seriously in the past two weeks that it can no longer mount
co-ordinated attacks. However, isolated attacks will probably
continue.
The recent sharp rise in confidence of the
British on Cyprus may indicate a belief that they will soon cap-
ture EOKA leader Grivas. The British will also probably try
in the UN to exploit official Greek complicity, although the con-
sul reports the evidence he has seen is unconvincing.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
SFCR T
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
t A It Nr11_,Li' I I' 1 1.211A
7. SOUTH KOREAN ENVOY "OPTI I TIC" CONCE
REOPENING OF TALKS WITH JAPAN
South Korean minister to Japan Kim
Yong-sik has told Ambassador Dowling
in Seoul that he is now "very optimistic"
concerning prospects for reopening talks
between Japan and South Korea aimed at "normalizing" their
relations.
Kim stated that President Rhee had agreed
to postpone demands for the return of four of his political en-
emies from Japan, thus removing the final obstacle to an agree-
ment involving a simultaneous mutual release of detained na-
tionals and renunciation by Japan of property claims in Korea.
Commencement of negotiations on broader issues would follow
this preliminary agreement.
Comment Continuing anti-Japanese propaganda from
Seoul indicates that Rhee may desire only
a partial settlement with Japan.
The return of detainees would remove a
major cause of friction between Japan and South Korea. Japan
now holds 1,400 Koreans, mostly illegal entrants, while South
Korea has detained about 700 Japanese fishermen who have
served sentences for violating the "Rhee line" fisheries bound-
ary.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
Ar`v r -118. T71,171r1T-t� -Kik 7/111,7F jr
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996
'woo'
ISHIBASHrS ABILITY TO RESUME DUTIES IN DOUBT
Comment on:
cabinet may be
into March.
he continued illness of Japanese prime
mister Ishibashi may prevent him from
ppearing before the Diet on 21 February
s scheduled. His failure to appear would
robably raise Socialist and press criti-
cism of the government to fever pitch. It
has already precipitated a renewal of power
struggles within Japan's ruling conservative
an embassy reports that Ishibashi and his
forced to resign if his convalescence extends
Should Ishibashi remain incapacitated,
the necessity of providing effective substitute leadership and
of quelling intraparty discord suggests that Foreign Minister
Kishi might be appointed deputy prime minister, thereby mak-
ing him a logical choice to succeed Ishibashi in the future.
19 Feb 57
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 10
crrn rT
Approved for Release: 2019/12/04 C03161996