CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A002300510001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 10, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 14, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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14 January 1956
Copy No. 103
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
Cl DECLASSIFIED
AUTH: HR 70-2
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
AIEXT REVIEW DATE: ?0 16
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
0 DIA and DOS review(s) completed.
W"/ //ff,04ffi//004/1279)-MM9MEM975 .10
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CONTENTS
1. JORDAN MAY BE FORCED TO ACCEPT ARAB AID
OFFER
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3. POPULAR REPUBLICANS OPPOSE CONCEPT OF
MINORITY FRENCH GOVERNMENT
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4. COMMUNIST-SUPPORTED POPULAR FRONT MAY BE
FORMED FOR GREEK ELECTIONS
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
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1. JORDAN MAY BE FORCED TO ACCEPT ARAB AID
OFFER
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The American embassy in Amman be-
lieves that the situation in Jordan has
deteriorated to such an extent that an
offer even of substantial aid from the
West probably would not enable King
Hussain to reject a subsidy in the
amount reported to have been offered
by Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
. The British Foreign Office, however,
appears confident that the king will decline the offer, al-
though it believes another outbreak of rioting would follow
an announcement of such a decision,
The Foreign Office told the American
embassy in London that Iraqi prime minister Nuri is un-
decided on his reply to Hussain's request that Iraqi troops
stand by to help restore order in Jordan. The British
Foreign Office implied that British troops from Cyprus
rather than Iraqi forces would be used in an emergency,
Jordanian Arab Legion leader Glubb, according to the For-
eign Office, has reported that 3,000 Saudi troops, mostly
irregulars, are grouped at Kaf, near the Jordanian border,
presumably ready to enter Jordan if the situation deterio-
rates further.
Comment The three Arab states reportedly pro-
posed on 11 January to give Jordan the
equivalent of $280,000,000 over a ten-year period--a sum
about $70,000,000 less than Jordan would receive from
Britain over the same period--if present arrangements
with Britain continued. It would seem unlikely that Hussain
can afford to reject the Arab offer outright. His decision
will probably depend primarily on his government's ability
to maintain order in the next few days.
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3. POPULAR REPUBLICANS OPPOSE CONCEPT OF
MINORITY FRENCH GOVERNMENT
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The Popular Republican Party (MRP)
announced on 12 January that it will
oppose the formation of a minority
government by the Republican Front,
An MRP lea er told an American official in Paris on 10
January that his party attributes most of the pressure for
a minority government to .propaganda by Mendes-France
supporters aimed at securing more influence in a wider
coalition. The source intimated that negotiations are tak-
ing place between Mollet's Socialists and MRP leaders,
who apparently anticipate a shift in the next week or so
toward a government with a broader base.
The MRP tentatively plans to support
a Socialist-led government, but its leaders object that one
headed by Mendes-France would be short-lived and a prel-
ude to "great chaos:'
Comment The Socialists and the MRP are the
parties most likely to be able to form
a bridge between the hostile center blocs. Despite Mollet's
strong-public insistence on a minority Republican Front
government, both Socialist and MRP leaders have shown
an inclination since the 2 January elections to seek a
rapprochement.
The MRP's public statement will oblige
Mollet and Mendes-France to clarify their position. Paris
observers had previously assumed that the MRP would
acquiesce in a narrowly based coalition led by a Socialist
or a Mendes-France Radical and supported by the Commu-
nists on some domestic issues.
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4. COMMUNIST-SUPPORTED POPULAR FRONT MAY
BE FORMED FOR GREEK ELECTIONS
The drift of Greek center parties
toward co-operation with the Com-
munist-front PDA in the national
elections scheduled for 19 February
appears to be accelerating. If this culminates in a for-
mal EDA-supported Popular Front to oppose Prime Min-
ister Karamanlis' right- of- center National Radical Union,
the forces in the election may be nearly equal.
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 13 January)
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Israel has charged that Egyptians fired on
an Israeli patrol along the Gaza strip and that antiaircraft fire
was opened on an Israeli plane near the El Auia zone, but no
casualties were reported.
The commander in chief of the Egyptian
navy has told the American naval attache in Cairo that he does
not believe Israel will attempt to force the blockade of the Gulf
of Aqaba, but that if Israel does so it will mean war.
On 1 January the American army a ac
in air. identified five Soviet T-34 medium tanks proceeding
cross-country to a firing range in the Suez Canal Zone. The
attache reports that a sizable
but unknown number of Soviet medium tanks are at Shallufa, a
station on the railway which parallels the canal. This is the
first sighting of Soviet ground equipment in use by the Egyptians.
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Current Intelligence Bulletin
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