The British Cabinet met today to hear a report from Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin on the Palestine situation, in expectation of a stormy session of Parliament tomorrow on the same issue.
It is understood that Bevin submitted to the Cabinet an outline of the statement which he will make to Parliament tomorrow to Justify his policy. He also informed the Cabinet of the reports sent to him by Sir Oliver Franks, British Ambassador Washington, following the latter’s talk with President Truman on Palestine.
A number of Laborite members of the Parliament including Richard H.S. Crossman, who just returned from Israel, met this afternoon to decide on the tactics which they will follow at tomorrow’s session of the Parliament in assailing Bevin’s policy. The revolt against Bevin is being led by Crossman.
LABOR OPPOSITION TO DEMAND BEVIN’S RESIGNATION, PRESS PREDICTS
The entire morning press today predicted that Bevin’s resignation will be demanded by a strong group of Laborites in Parliament, All papers, without exception, emphasized that the Labor Government is facing the most serious challenge ever faced with regard to its Palestine policy.
The Transjordan Government invoked the Anglo-Trans Jordan Treaty about ten days before British troops began moving to Aqaba, Red Sea port in Trans jordan, a British Office spokesman today reiterated. He was commenting on a charge by an Israeli spokesman that a Trans jordan spokesman had claimed that his government never invoked the treatment. The Briton declared that the arrival of British troops at had been reported erroneously in advance.
A specially prepared paper by Bevin on the R.A.F. flight over Israeli positions ten days ago during which five British planes were shot down was circulated among Cabinet members this weekend, it was learned today. Although the paper was written at the request of Cabinet members who asked that it deal with the Government’s Middle East policy, it actually is a defense of the actions of the Foreign Office during the past three weeks.
Bevin is reported to emphasize that he acted in conjunction with the United States throughout the R.A.F incident. The State Department was informed on Dec. 29, 1947, of the British intention to send R.A.F. planes over the border region to gain data on the Israeli-Egyptian situation, the report states. It also purports to quote the words of the State Department official who approved this action. The document also quotes British newspaper stories charging that the U.S. was involved in the fatal flights.
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