“big Three” Talks on Averting Arab-israel War Opened in Washington

American-British-French talks on how to prevent the outbreak of a second round of warfare between the Arab countries and Israel started at the State Department today. It is expected that they will continue for several weeks.

At the same time, President Eisenhower told a press conference today that everything he could do constitutionally would be done to prevent an Arab-Israel war. Asked about the possibilities of averting a Middle East conflict through tripartite or United Nations action, the President cited the joint communique issued by himself and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden last week.

Informed circles said that the British Ambassador and State Department officials who, together with the French Ambassador, participated today in the opening session of the tripartite talks, urged that private negotiations be started with Israel and the Arab states in the “hope of compromise” on both sides. The British and American representatives stressed the need for strengthening the United Nations’ truce supervision organization in Palestine.

(The question of Israel’s application for defensive arms from the Western Powers will not be among the questions discussed in Washington by representatives of the United States, Britain and France, it was indicated in the British Parliament today by Anthony Nutting, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. In response to a question by Labor Party chairman Hugh Gaitskell whether the problem of supplying arms to Israel would be discussed at the tripartite talks, Mr. Nutting said that this point was not on the agenda.)

It was learned here today that stationing of American or British troops on the borders between Israel and the Arab countries is not seriously envisaged by the tripartite conferees, despite widespread reports that military forces of the Western Powers might be summoned to action in the event of trouble.