The United States request to the Security Council for action on the Israel-Arab crisis has the British Government’s full approval, Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd told the House of Commons this afternoon. In response to Labor MP’s, he affirmed that referral of the conflict to the United Nations in no way weakened the obligations of the British, French and American Governments under the Tripartite Declaration of 1950.
Despite Mr. Lloyd’s announcement, some official circles here indicated that the initiative for the Security Council meeting came from the United States alone. These circles feel that recourse to the Security Council at this time only invites trouble from the Soviet Union which, merely by vetoing any Western resolution, can give itself another boost in Arab eyes. Everything that the American resolution asks, these circles say, could have been accomplished without summoning the Council to a meeting.
(The New York Times reported today from London that Britain has completed a plan for “effective” military action within 24 hours of the outbreak of a war between the Arab states and Israel. The object of this action would be to prevent both the spreading of such a war and its continuation in the Middle East. Britain would employ her army, navy and air forces now concentrated in Cyprus and elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean area, it is understood. The British action would be taken under the Tripartite Declaration of 1950, the Times report said.)
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