British Mp’s, Press Hit Oil Companies’ Action

Three of Britain’s most distinguished parliamentarians expressed strong opposition this weekend to the decision by the Shell and British Petroleum companies to liquidate their business in Israel. In a joint letter to The Time of London, they said that the decision would be viewed as a victory for the Arab economic war against Israel and warned that the British Government cannot possibly divest itself of responsibility for the political implications of this move or for its consequences.

The three who signed the letter to The Times were Herbert Morrison, Foreign Secretary in the last Labor Government, Walter Elliot, one of the most respected Conservative backbenchers, and Clement Davies, former Minister of Health and former leader of the Liberal Party.

Their letter noted that the oil companies’ decision, if taken with the acquiescence of the British Government, was “most disquieting to all those who hoped for a gradual decrease in tension in the Middle East.”

Commenting editorially on the oil companies’ move which it called “profoundly disquieting,” The Times said that while the oil companies claim that their operations in Israel were uneconomical, their withdrawal will be widely interpreted as a concession to the Arab Boycott Committee. “The British Government apparently wishes to treat the transaction as purely commercial,” the editorial stated, “but they can hardly divest themselves of all responsibility. . . They ought not interfere to the point of compelling private companies to make purely commercial sacrifices but they ought to resist clearly recognizable political pressures.”

Both the oil companies and the British Government were similarly criticized in editorials in the Manchester Guardian and a number of other British dailies and weeklies.