‘In the very eye of the storm’: India, the UN, and the Lebanon crisis of 1958

Abstract

This paper effectively provides the view from New Delhi of the crisis in Lebanon in 1958, UN intervention in the conflict, and subsequent peacekeeping in the region. The account uses archival material from the National Archives of India, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, the UNARMS, the National Archives, UK, and published primary material. Most significantly, the paper revisits the memoirs of Ambassador Rajeshwar Dayal (the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative) who was seconded from the Indian Foreign Service for the special purpose of UN arbitration in the Lebanon Crisis. Dayal played a pivotal role in defining India’s position in the crisis, and through Indian contributions to mediation and peacekeeping, in the UN. Furthermore, given India’s relationships with many other non-aligned nations in the region, the paper takes a broader view of the narratives surrounding the crisis and eventual US intervention and victory from mainly Indian sources, thus contributing to the study of the short-lived crisis.

Keywords:

• Lebanon
• Indian foreign policy
• peacekeeping
• India-US relations
• United Nations
• UNOGIL

Notes

¹ Rajeshwar Dayal, Life of Our Times (New Delhi: Sangam Books Ltd., 1998), 373.

² Alan Bullion, ‘India and UN Peacekeeping Operations’, International Peacekeeping 4, no. 1 (1997): 98–114.

³ Editorial, “The Eisenhower Doctrine,” Economic and Political Weekly, January 12, 1957, 34–35.

⁴ Swapna Kona Nayudu, “The Nehru Years – Indian Non-alignment as the Critique, Discourse and Practice of Security (1947–1964)” (Doctoral Thesis, King's College London, 2015).

⁵ The classic accounts are Malcolm Kerr, The Arab Cold War, 1958–1964 (London, 1965); Patrick Seale, The Struggle for Syria: A Study of Post-War Arab Politics, 1945–1958 (London, 1965); Alan Dowty, Middle East Crisis: U.S. Decision-Making in 1958, 1970, and 1973 (Berkeley, 1984); Fawaz A. Gerges, The Superpowers and the Middle East: Regional and International Politics, 1955–1967 (Boulder, 1994); Irene L. Gendzier, Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945–1958 (New York, 1997); William B. Quandt, 'Lebanon 1958, and Jordan, 1970', in Barry M. Blechman and Stephen S. Kaplan, Force without War: U.S. Armed Forces as a Political Instrument (Washington D.C., 1978); Ritchie Ovendale, 'Great Britain and the Anglo-American Invasion of Jordan and Lebanon in 1958', International History Review 16, no. 2 (May 1994); and Lawrence Tal, 'Britain and the Jordan Crisis of 1958', Middle Eastern Studies 31, no. 1 (January 1995).

⁶ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘India and the Arab Crisis’, Statement in the Lok Sabha on the situation in the Middle East, New Delhi, 14 August 1958, Lok Sabha Debates, 2nd ser., vol. XVIII, cols 857–70, 501–11.

⁷ For an excellent historical background to strife amongst religious factions in Lebanon, see Karol R. Sorby, ‘Lebanon: The Crisis of 1958’, Asian and African Studies 9, no. 1 (2000): 76–109.

⁸ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘India and the Arab Crisis’, 501–11.

⁹ Carol A. Fisher and Fred Krinsky, Middle East in Crisis: A Historical and Documentary Review (New York: Syracuse University, 1959), xii–213.

¹⁰ Sorby, ‘Lebanon: The Crisis of 1958’, 76.

¹¹ Ibid., 89.

¹² For an Indian assessment, see M. V. Kamath, ‘Lebanon: Problem Child of the Arabs’, United Asia 10 (June 1958): 207–11.

¹³ On crisis and rapprochement between Egypt and the West, Caroline Attié, Struggle in the Levant: Lebanon in the 1950s (Oxford: I B Tauris, 2004), 185–227.

¹⁴ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Conflict in Lebanon’, Note to Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary, 31 May 1958, SWJN, 2nd Ser., vol. 42, eds., Aditya Mukherjee and Mridula Mukherjee (New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund), 631.

¹⁵ Nehru and Nasser met eight times between 1953 and 1955 as Nehru made Cairo a regular stopover on his trips to Europe. Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal, The Cairo Document: The Inside Story of Nasser and His Relationship with World Leaders, Rebels, and Statesmen (New York: Doubleday, 1973), 280.

¹⁶ Jawaharlal Nehru, quoted in Nicolas Blarel, The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise Since 1922 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press India, 2014), 472.

¹⁷ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Addressing a Press Conference in Cairo on 16 February’, in SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 28, eds., Sarvepalli Gopal, Ravinder Kumar, and H.Y. Sharada Prasad (New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund), 216 n. 4.

¹⁸ Mohammed M. Rahman, The Politics of Non-Alignment (New Delhi: Associated Publishing House, 1969), 128.

¹⁹ ‘Visit of the PM to Cairo on his Way Back to India from the European Tour - Joint Statement Issued on the Occasion by the PMs of India and Egypt’, Ministry of External Affairs File No. F 4(75)-AWT/55, National Archives of India (NAI), New Delhi, India.

²⁰ The treaty was signed by Mahmoud Fawzi on the Egyptian side and the new Indian Ambassador Nawab Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur. For the full text of the treaty see Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Treaty of Friendship Between the Union of India and the Republic of Egypt, 1955, Commonwealth Legal Information Institute, Ministry of External Affairs, India Databases, 1955.

²¹ On Nasser’s peculiar attitude towards Lebanon, see Kamal S. Salibi, ‘Lebanon since the Crisis of 1958’, The World Today 17, no. 1 (1961): 32–42.

²² The Arab League at this time was split into three groups. Egypt and Syria had recently united to form the United Arab Republic and, with Yemen, comprised the pro-Nasser forces in the area. On the other side were the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan, which, with Lebanon, constituted the anti-Nasser, pro-Western states. Libya, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, and the Sudan formed somewhat of a middle group. For a discussion of the rivalries between the states comprising the Arab League, see Gerald L. Curtis, ‘The United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon’, International Organisation 18, no. 4 (1964): 739–40.

²³ ‘Editorial Note’, in Document 62, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan (FRUS-Lebanon and Jordan), Volume XI (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1998), accessed on 21 April 2017.

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ Curtis, ‘The United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon’, 741.

²⁷ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘A Foreign Policy for India’, Article written in Montana, Switzerland, 13 September 1927, AICC File No. 8, 1927, 1­27, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi.

²⁸ Krishna Menon, Interview with Michael Brecher, transcribed in India and World Politics: Krishna Menon's View of the World (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), 10–12.

²⁹ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘On Security Council Resolution on Lebanon’, Note to Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary, 12 June 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 42: 632–3.

³⁰ Editor’s Note 2, Ibid., 632–3.

³¹ Editor’s Note 3, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘On Security Council Resolution on Lebanon’, Note to Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary, 12 June 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 42: 632–3.

³² Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘India’s Participation in the Observation Group’, Note to Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary, 14 June 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 42: 633.

³³ Editor’s Note 4 Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘India’s Participation in the Observation Group’, Note to Subimal Dutt, Foreign Secretary, 14 June 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 42: 633.

³⁴ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 335.

³⁵ Ibid., 338.

³⁶ For files pertaining to Dayal, see File UNOGIL/S-0650/01/04/3.7.0, United Nations Archives and Records Management Section (UNARMS), New York, USA.

³⁷ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 339.

³⁸ Ibid., 335–6.

³⁹ Ibid., 347.

⁴⁰ Ibid., 341.

⁴¹ Nehru, ‘India and the Arab Crisis’, Lok Sabha Debates.

⁴² File UNOGIL/S-0650/01/01, UNARMS.

⁴³ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 342.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Ibid., 345.

⁴⁶ Ibid., 344.

⁴⁷ Ibid., 347.

⁴⁸ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Letter of 26 July, 1958’, G. Parthasarathi, ed. Jawaharlal Nehru, Letters to Chief Ministers 1947–1964 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5: 97.

⁴⁹ Douglas Little, ‘His Finest Hour? Eisenhower, Lebanon, and the 1958 Middle East Crisis’, Diplomatic History 20, no. 1 (1996): 27.

⁵⁰ For background, see Fawaz A. Gerges, ‘The Lebanese Crisis of 1958: The Risks of Inflated Self-Importance’, Beirut Review 5 (1993): 83–113; David W. Lesch, ‘Prelude to the 1958 American Intervention in Lebanon’, Mediterranean Quarterly 7, no. 3 (1996): 87–108. Douglas Little, ‘His Finest Hour? Eisenhower, Lebanon, and the 1958 Middle East Crisis’, Diplomatic History 20, no. 1 (1996): 27–54. Ritchie Ovendale, ‘Great Britain and the Anglo-American Invasion of Jordan and Lebanon in 1958’, The International History Review 16, no. 2 (1994): 284–304.

⁵¹ See on the chronology of stationing and withdrawal of American troops, Quincy Wright, ‘United States Intervention in the Lebanon’, The American Journal of International Law 53, no. 1 (1959): 112–25.

⁵² Lawrence Tal, ‘Britain and the Jordan Crisis of 1958’, Middle Eastern Studies 31, no. 1 (1995): 40.

⁵³ Ivan Pearson, ‘The Syrian Crisis of 1957, the Anglo-American “Special Relationship”, and the 1958 Landings in Jordan and Lebanon’, Middle Eastern Studies 43, no. 1 (2007): 45–64.

⁵⁴ Patrick Seale, The Struggle for Syria: A Study of Post-war Arab Politics, 1945–1958 (London: I.B. Tauris, 1986), 287.

⁵⁵ Pearson, ‘The Syrian Crisis of 1957, the Anglo-American “Special Relationship”, and the 1958 Landings in Jordan and Lebanon’, 45–64.

⁵⁶ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 369.

⁵⁷ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Letter of 26 July, 1958’, G. Parthasarathi, ed. Jawaharlal Nehru, Letters to Chief Ministers 1947–1964 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5: 99.

⁵⁸ Editor’s Note 10, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Letter of 26 July, 1958’, G. Parthasarathi, ed. Jawaharlal Nehru, Letters to Chief Ministers 1947–1964 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5: 99.

⁵⁹ The Government of India only recognised the new government in Iraq on 23 July 1958. Subimal Dutt, ‘Note of 18 July 1958’, Subimal Dutt Papers, Subject File No. 55, 156–7, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi.

⁶⁰ Nehru, ‘India and the Arab Crisis’, Lok Sabha Debates.

⁶¹ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Letter of 26 July, 1958’, G. Parthasarathi, ed. Jawaharlal Nehru, Letters to Chief Ministers 1947–1964 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5: 99–100.

⁶² Ibid., 101.

⁶³ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Message to Harold Macmillan’, 17 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 463–5.

⁶⁴ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Message to John George Diefenbaker’, 17 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 465–7; and ‘Message to Josip Broz Tito’, 17 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 467–8.

⁶⁵ Eisenhower had written to Nehru referring to the latter’s ‘deep interest in world peace and order’ and said he would be ‘“grateful for any comment or counsel you might desire to offer as I prize very highly the relationship which enables us to discuss matters of such gravity with the utmost frankness’. See Editor’s note 2, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘To Dwight D. Eisenhower’, 17 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 469.

⁶⁶ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Message to U Nu’, 18 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 471–2.

⁶⁷ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘To Atal Bihari Vajpayee’, 18 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 473.

⁶⁸ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘To Gamal Abdel Nasser’, 18 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 474.

⁶⁹ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’, 18 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 475.

⁷⁰ Editor’s note 2, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to R. K. Nehru’, 18 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 477.

⁷¹ R. K. Nehru reported to the Prime Minister about his talk with Nasser on 21 July. See Editor’s note 3, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to R. K. Nehru’, 20 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 487.

⁷² Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘To Nikita Khrushchev’, 20 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 482–3.

⁷³ ‘Memorandum of a Conversation’, Washington, July 20, 1958, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan (FRUS-Lebanon and Jordan), Volume XI, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1998), accessed on 21 April 2017; also see Message From Foreign Secretary Lloyd to Secretary of State Dulles, London, 22 July 1958, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan (FRUS-Lebanon and Jordan), Volume XI (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1998), accessed on 21 April 2017.

⁷⁴ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’, 22 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 489–90.

⁷⁵ Editor’s note 2, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’, 22 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 489–90.

⁷⁶ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to K.P.S. Menon’, 22 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 493.

⁷⁷ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘To Josip Broz Tito’, 31 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 498–9.

⁷⁸ On why this happened, see Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Letter of 26 July, 1958’, G. Parthasarathi, ed. Jawaharlal Nehru, Letters to Chief Ministers 1947–1964 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5: 101–2.

⁷⁹ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to K.P.S. Menon’, 10 August 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 500.

⁸⁰ Ali Yavar Jung had taken over as Indian Ambassador to Yugoslavia in May 1958. Editor’s note 2, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to Ali Yavar Jung’, 20 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 484–6.

⁸¹ Nehru wrote to Secretary General N R Pillai, Foreign Secretary S Dutt and Commonwealth Secretary M. J. Desai reporting his meeting with US Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Position of the US on the West Asian Crisis’, 26 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 494–5.

⁸² Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State in Washington and the Permanent Representative at the United Nations (Lodge) in New York, 22 July 1958, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan (FRUS-Lebanon and Jordan), Volume XI (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1998), accessed on 21 April 2017.

⁸³ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘International Situation – I’, Speech in the Lok Sabha, New Delhi, 19 August 1958, Lok Sabha Debates, (Second Series), vol. XVIII, cols. 1657–1669, quoted in SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 427–37.

⁸⁴ Editor’s note 16: ‘UNGA met in a special session on 8 August and from 13 to 20 August 1958’, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘International Situation – I’, 431.

⁸⁵ Arthur Lall for Subimal Dutt, 13 August 1958, Secret, Immediate, CCB 8774, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Archives, New Delhi, India.

⁸⁶ By UNTSO, he was referring to the personnel who had been seconded to the UNOGIL to establish the mission. Subimal Dutt for Arthur Lall, 14 August 1958, Secret, Immediate, CCB 4414, MEA.

⁸⁷ Subimal Dutt for Arthur Lall, 19 August 1958, Secret, Most Immediate, CCB 4478/4478-A, No. 24630, MEA; See also, Subimal Dutt for Arthur Lall, 20 August 1958, Secret, Immediate, CCB 9092, No. 204, MEA.

⁸⁸ Arthur Lall for Subimal Dutt, 21 August 1958, Secret, Immediate, CCB 9092, No. 204, MEA.

⁸⁹ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘International Situation – I’, 454.

⁹⁰ Ibid.

⁹¹ Curtis, ‘The United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon’, 756–7.

⁹² Dayal, Life of Our Times, 357.

⁹³ Ibid.

⁹⁴ ‘Consequences of Possible US Courses of Action Respecting Lebanon’, Special National Intelligence Estimate, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Lebanon and Jordan (FRUS-Lebanon and Jordan), Volume XI (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1998), accessed on 21 April 2017.

⁹⁵ Jawaharlal Nehru to Ambassador in Cairo, [undated] July 1958, Subimal Dutt Papers, Subject File No. 55, 138–141, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi.

⁹⁶ Subimal Dutt to Arthur Lall, 18 July 1958, Subimal Dutt Papers, Subject File No. 55, 164.

⁹⁷ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 360.

⁹⁸ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘International Situation – I’, 427–37.

⁹⁹ Nehru, ‘India and the Arab Crisis’, Lok Sabha Debates.

¹⁰⁰ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Cable to R. K. Nehru’, 31 July 1958, SWJN, 2nd ser., vol. 43: 497.

¹⁰¹ Dayal, too, reposed some confidence in the General, who he described as the ‘only Maronite who stood outside the conflict and was universally respected’. He continued, ‘Commander of the National Army, Chehab was a man of sterling integrity and a fervent patriot, who had raised and trained the army and kept it out of politics.’ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 351.

¹⁰² This included Indian teams in substation posting along with Italian, Dutch (all one each) and Scandinavian (two) teams. Dag Hammarskjöld to General Bull, UNOGIL/S-0666–09-31, File UNOGIL/S-0666–09-31/DAG13–3.2.1. For expansion plans, see File UNOGIL/S-0666–09-31/DAG13–321, Expanded UNOGIL Plan – Stage II files, UNARMS.

¹⁰³ For details of deployed troops from India, see – File UNOGIL/S-0650/07/05/DAG13–3.7.0, UNARMS.

¹⁰⁴ For reports from UNOGIL, see File UNOGIL/S-0650/01/06/3.7.0 UNARMS.

¹⁰⁵ Note from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajeshwar Dayal, 12 November 1958, Subimal Dutt Papers, Subject File No. 56. Topic: Copies of Official Correspondence Exchanged by Subimal Dutt as Foreign Secretary, 219.

¹⁰⁶ Letter from S. Habib Ahmed, Chief Administrative Officer, UNOGIL to Rajeshwar Dayal. For files pertaining to Rajeshwar Dayal’s arrangements to bring his staff, personal aide, dependent, and his travel plans, rentals of rented radios. Incidentally, his passport number was D003976. File UNOGIL/S-0650/01/04/3.7.0, UNARMS.

¹⁰⁷ Curtis, ‘The United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon’, 761–2.

¹⁰⁸ On how this was made possible, see Trevor Findlay, The Use of Force in UN Peace Operations (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 46–7.

¹⁰⁹ Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 126.

¹¹⁰ Ibid., 127.

¹¹¹ For criticisms of the UNOGIL, and responses from the UN, Sorby, ‘Lebanon: The Crisis of 1958’, 100–1.

¹¹² Dayal, Life of Our Times, 337.

¹¹³ Vijay Prashad, ‘Nehru in Beirut’, Frontline, 27 November 2013, http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/nehru-in-beirut/article5389770.ece (accessed June 8, 2017).

¹¹⁴ Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘International Situation – I’, 434.

¹¹⁵ Ibid., 435.

¹¹⁶ Ibid., 437.

¹¹⁷ Mark Mazower, No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 18.

¹¹⁸ Mark Mazower, Governing the World: The History of an Idea (New York: Penguin Press HC, 2012), 267–8.

¹¹⁹ Dayal, Life of Our Times, 373.