The first pronouncement of such an agency was made in December 1956. when I was privileged to address the Overseas Press Club in New York City during my brief service as United States delegate to the United Nations. In 1957. I laid out in the United States Senate other proposals. relating to a United Nations good offices commission. with a mandate from the General Assembly to seek. through honorable means. the settlement of disputes between the Arab nations and the state of Israel. including such vexing and pressing problems as the Arab refugee question. I further recommended that we take action in the United Nations to guarantee the internationalization of some of the important waterways in that area. such as the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba. I further advocated that we proceed through the United Nations to seek the imposition of an arms embargo in the Middle East. so that whatever shipments of arms would go into the area would be under U.