Britain Backs U.S. Proposal for U.N. Stand-by Force in Middle East

Britain today welcomed the United States proposal that the United Nations set up a stand-by peace force modelled along the line of the UN Emergency Force now operating in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.

Addressing the General Assembly during the general debate, British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd noted that “no one will question the success” of the force set up to guard the Israel-Egyptian borders. While he granted that a stand-by force might not solve the problem of immediate action in a crisis, the Foreign Secretary said he felt that knowledge of the fact that such a force could be created at short notice “would have a stabilizing effect.”

Referring to the unanimous resolution adopted at the recent extraordinary session of the Assembly, Mr. Lloyd expressed the hope that Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s activities with respect to the resolution would “produce an atmosphere of peace and tolerance” in the Middle East which would allow the withdrawal of British forces.

In comment on the suggestion by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that the UN organize a radio monitoring system in the Middle East as a method of dampening hostile radio propaganda in the region, Mr. Lloyd said hostile radio propaganda was “almost the most important single factor in promoting world tension at the present time.”

The United States delegation is definitely planning on following through at this year’s General Assembly with two Middle Eastern proposals made here last week by Secretary Dulles.

A spokesman for the American delegation, when asked whether the U.S. group intends to follow through on Mr. Dulles’ proposals for a new economic development agency in the Middle East and for the establishment of a United Nations radio monitoring service in that region, said today “undoubtedly we will do something about these matters, but I am not sure as yet what the exact formulation will be.”