Arms Equality for Israel Advocated in British Parliament Debate

The demand that Israel be brought up to arms equality with the Arab states and that thereafter an international arms embargo be clamped on the Middle East to prevent a continuous process of balancing arms shipments to one side with further shipments to the other, was voiced by Alfred Robens, the Labor Party’s foreign expert, during a foreign policy debate in Commons tonight.

Clement Davies, leader of the Liberal Party, agreed with Mr. Robens that once the balance of power had been restored through increasing Israel’s strength, the best course would be to deny arms to both sides. He asked why the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 had not been carried out.

Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden opened the debate for the government, but did not make any reference to the Middle East situation. Sir Anthony indicated that, this aspect of the government’s policy would be dealt with tomorrow by Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd.

Mr. Robens, who was the first speaker for the Opposition during the formal debate, noted that reference of the Arab-Israel dispute to the United Nations had brought the Soviet Union into the picture, “and quite rightly.” It is a “good thing” that the Russians have been involved, he continued, because the only real settlement in the Middle East would be a UN solution.

Indicating his belief that the Middle East was no longer an area of exclusive British control, Mr. Robens said: “We have got to face up to the fact that if we want a real settlement in the Middle East we must go through the United Nations and to that extent one is extremely glad that Mr. Hammarskjold’s mission has been so successful.”

At the same time, the Laborite warned that the Hammarskjold mission in the Middle East had only provided a breathing spell and had not settled, nor been intended to settle, all outstanding problems of the region. He asked that Mr. Lloyd, when he speaks tomorrow, explain how he judges that the balance of arms in the Middle East is in Israel’s favor. Mr. Robens stressed that the arms deliveries which have come to light within the last few months “did not add up to the balance being in Israel’s favor.”

ARABS WARNED AGAINST BOYCOTTING FIRMS DEALING WITH ISRAEL

John Dugdale another Labor M.P., hit the Arab boycott of British firms dealing with Israel or having Jews among their top personnel. He proposed that an Egyptian trade delegation currently in Britain should be told that if the intimidation of British firms continues, Britain will refuse to buy some Egyptian products. “There are many things we could refuse to buy which would warn the Arab peoples that we don’t stand for this kind of intimidation,” Mr. Dugdale declared.

Earlier, during a question period, Laborites bombarded A.D. Dodds-Parker, Foreign Under Secretary, with questions about Israel’s requests for arms sales from Britain and the fate of these applications. However, Mr. Dodds-Parker spent his time parrying questions and referring questioners to earlier statements either by Labor Ministers when they were in power or by spokesmen for the Eden government.

When L.A. Plummer, Labor, asked what reply Mr. Lloyd had given to an Israeli request for anti-aircraft equipment, Mr. Dodds-Parker gave him the standard answer the government will not discuss the details of individual requests for supplies. Mr. Plummer then demanded to know why the British Government was refusing to grant Israel such defensive arms as anti-aircraft guns, but Mr. Dodds-Parker fell back on another stock reply: it is not the custom to disclose confidential diplomatic exchanges.

After another Laborite had pressed him on the same point, Mr. Dodds-Parker said that in 1950 when Laborite Emanuel Shinwell was Defense Minister he had similarly refused to give Commons such information. Mr. Shinwell intervened to declare that he regarded the reply as completely unsatisfactory, whereupon he was told: “Then you regard yourself as being dissatisfied with yourself.”

Herbert Morrison, last Labor Foreign Secretary, again questioned whether the government contemplated a policy toward Israel which would put the Jewish State on a weapons par with the Arab states. Mr. Dodds-Parker insisted that the government was adhering to the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 which was adopted when Mr. Morrison was Foreign Secretary.

Hugh Gaitskell, Labor Party leader, entered the fray to point out that the Israel Government had challenged the British Government’s view that the arms balance favored Israel, citing “chapter and verse” to buttress its challenge. “We are awaiting further “comment so we may really know what the situation is,” Mr. Gaitskell asserted.

Mr. Dodds-Parker said that the Israel Government had stated its case and that the Egyptian Government had insisted that its large arms purchases from the Soviet bloc were required to balance Israel’s strength.

Mr. Gaitskell stated that these diverse views only supported his request for an objective statement of the British Government’s view. Mr. Dodds-Parker cut off the discussion by referring Mr. Gaitskell to Richard Crossman, Laborite who, he said, “appeared to know a great deal about this during the last debate on the subject.”