Critics of the British Government’s Middle East policies failed tonight in a determined attempt to change the Government’s stand on measures to prevent war between Israel and the Arab States and to achieve a settlement in the Middle East.
In a long and inconclusive foreign policy debate in the House of Commons, Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign Secretary, who is soon to leave on a visit to the Arab States and Israel, again rejected demands that he seek to enlist cooperation of the Soviet Union in halting the flow of arms to the Middle East and refused to accept the view that defensive arms to Israel would help check the growing imbalance and serve as a deterrent to war.
The Foreign Secretary asserted that he did not believe the security of Israel rested on an arms race. An arms race, he said, would mean that Israel “will be ringed around by a series of Arab States who have in turn been armed to the teeth by the Soviets and that, I do not believe, would mean security for Israel.” He added that “therefore, we have to find a rather different approach to the problem. I just don’t believe that Israel’s security will follow from the delivery of large quantities of Western arms at the present time.”
Mr. Lloyd stressed agreement of the British and American governments that the Tripartite Declaration offered the best means of preserving the peace. He said the British had not thought in terms of sending United Nations contingents to patrol Israel’s frontiers and said he would talk with Egyptian and Israel leaders about strengthening the U. N. truce observance organization in Palestine.
In the Middle East, Mr. Lloyd said, “our first task is to assist in an Arab-Israel settlement. Secondly, to maintain our position on the Persian Gulf. Thirdly, to support our friends. Fourthly, to be loyal to our alliances. Fifthly, to persuade those who might succumb to Soviet blandishments of the danger to their political freedom as well as to their religious life. Finally, to do all within the limits of our capacity, to help those countries in the development of their resources, raising their standard of living. That is the policy to which we will seek to adhere in the Middle East.”
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