The Tripartite Declaration of 1950, also called the Tripartite Agreement of 1950, was a joint statement by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to guarantee the territorial ''status quo'' that had been determined by the 1949

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

–

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i Armistice Agreements. Developed from discussions related to the armistice, the declaration outlined the parties' commitment to peace and stability in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and their opposition to the use or the threat of force. They pledged to take action within and outside the

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to prevent violations of the frontiers or armistice lines. Further, they reiterated their opposition to the development of an arms race.A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Background to the 1956 War, p. 123 The declaration also stipulated close consultation among the three powers, with a view to limiting the Arab–Israeli arms race; it was issued on 25 May 1950.Gale Encyclopedia of the Mideast & N. Africa
Tripartite Declaration (1950), 2004

Motivations

The Western powers aimed to maintain stability and the free flow of oil, to neutralize the Arab–Israeli conflict, and, if possible, to convince Arabs and Israelis to make common cause with the West against the threat of Soviet encroachment. The United States was the central force behind the agreement. President

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

viewed it as a proper instrument to ensure neutrality of the West, particularly the United States in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The ultimate purpose was to prevent any seizure in the Middle East by force.

Impact

According to Gerald M. Steinberg, the "agreement did not prevent the Arab states from obtaining weapons through their alliance relationships with suppliers, but Israel was excluded.... Little foreign aid was provided by the United States, and Israeli military officials who sought to purchase weapons and ammunition in the United States were rebuffed."

NEACC

In June 1952, the parties set up the Near East Arms Coordinating Committee (NEACC) through which they co-ordinated their arms sales to all parties in the conflict. The United States sold virtually no arms in the Middle East, leaving those markets to Britain and France, with considerable competition between the two. The NEACC functioned reasonably well for more than three years. Both Britain and France periodically withheld arms from the rivals in the Arab–Israeli dispute, primarily when states took action that threatened either British or French regional interests. The three powers recognized, however, that the Arab states and Israel needed to maintain a certain level of armed force for purposes of internal security and legitimate self-defense. They declared that they would consider arms requests in light of those principles, including requests that would permit the countries to "play their part in the defense of the area as a whole." An important but somewhat-unenforceable clause of the Tripartite Agreement also stressed that the three powers would sell arms only with an assurance that the purchasing nations would not use them for acts of aggression against other nations.

Czech arms deal affects declaration

The Czech arms deal of September 1955 in which the Soviet Union agreed to sell Egypt $250 million worth of modern weaponry, made irrelevant Western efforts to limit the flow of arms. In April 1956, France began to transfer large quantities of modern arms to Israel. “France had been supplying Israel with arms since the early 1950s under the terms of a secret Franco-Israeli arms arrangement (in violation of the Tripartite Agreement, but with American support and encouragement)."

References

Sources

* * {{Arab–Israeli diplomacy Politics of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1950 documents 1950 in international relations France–United Kingdom relations France–United States relations United Kingdom–United States relations France–Israel relations Israel–United Kingdom relations Israel–United States relations France–Palestine relations Palestine–United Kingdom relations Palestine–United States relations Documents of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict