The Foreign. Ministers of the Benelux nations today began discussing the question of recognition of the Israeli Government, it was learned here, An announcement of their decision is expected some time this week-end.
The British Cabinet this morning discussed the implications of last night’s vote in Commons on Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin ‘s Palestine policy, which received a meager 283-193 vote of confidence. The general view here is that Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee will make every effort to retain Bevin in the Cabinet.
Some observers here point out that at the beginning of World War II Neville Chamberlain was forced to resign as Prime Minister when his government achieved only an 81-vote majority on a vote of confidence. The Labor Party’s majority yesterday was 90, in a House which it dominates overwhelmingly.
Consultation with the British Dominions on recognition continues, it was re-ported today. One dispatch from Canberra, Australia, stated that Prime Minister John B. Chifley said that Australian recognition of the Jewish state has been postponed Pending talks with other Empire governments.
Yesterday’s vote followed a defense of that policy by Prime Minister Clement B. Attlee who insisted that Britain did not advise the Arabs to attempt the conquest of Palestine. In fact, Attlee asserted, the process of handing over the government administration to the local population was carried out most smoothly in the Jewish cress. Defending Bevin against charges that his Palestine policy was actuated by a dislike for the Jews, the Prime Minister declared: “He has many good friends among the Jews.”
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