Commons to Debate Sending of British Jets to Arab States

Israel’s protests to the British Government against the shipment of jet planes to the Arab states are expected to provoke a heated debate in the House of Commons. It was learned today that a number of questions concerning the British delivery of jets to the Arabs have already been submitted to Parliament, and that Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden is expected to answer some of them.

Meanwhile, it was reported here that 25 British jets have been delivered to Egypt. The same reports stated that Premier Mohammed Naguib’s government had been permitted to pay for them from some 15,000,000 pounds in Egyptian sterling funds blocked in Britain.

The press reported today that Foreign Office officials are giving “careful consideration” to the Israeli representations on arms supplies to the Arabs. The newspapers, in analyses of the situation, assert that the “key to the heart” of the Arab states is armaments. This is interpreted as demonstrating that the “mainspring of the Arab states’ policy is hatred and fear of Israel.”

The Arab states are pictured in the London press as doubting the value of the tripartite declaration of May, 1950, to guarantee the borders of the Middle East states against aggression. The Arab states are also said to be “nervous” over the recent series of incidents along Israel’s frontiers and have lost some of their confidence in the United Nations truce supervision organization.

The entire Egyptian press has launched a new anti-Zionist and anti-British propaganda campaign designed to prove that British forces at Fayid have recruited 2,000 “Zionists”–former members of the extremist Irgun and Stern groups–who are being held in readiness to carry out “terroristic acts” against Egypt, it was reported today from Cairo.