Middle East at the Crossroads of the Century: Great Britain, United Stases of America and 1950 ABSTRACT: Tripartite Declaration, Bruno Pierri After the first Arab-Israeli war, the UN lifted the arms embargo previously declared. Britain and France had treaties of alliance with some Arab States, while Israel started to shift towards the West. Arab friendship was important for the Europeans, while Washington was not involved in the Middle East yet. Nevertheless, it was pivotally important to avoid an arms race. As the Europeans had bonds with the Arabs, and the Americans did not share military burdens in the area, they issued a declaration, according to which Middle Eastern countries were allowed to buy arms necessary for defence and public order. In case of aggression, the three powers would have intervened. Both the Arabs and the Israelis realised how weak this guarantee was. The former did not want foreign powers to decide their defence needs, while the latter complained that the West was only supplying their enemies.