Eden Reports on Washington Talks; Says Arab-israel Compromise Needed

Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden today told the British Parliament that the present tripartite talks in Washington on the Arab-Israel situation must be conducted in strict secrecy, and that Israel and the Arabs will both have to compromise for the sake of reaching a settlement of their conflict. He avoided answering questions as to whether Israel will receive arms from the West while Egypt is receiving weapons from Communist countries.

“There is nothing dishonorable in compromise.” Sir Anthony insisted as members of the House of Commons, led by Laborites, inferentially criticized him after his report on the talks he held two weeks ago in Washington with President Eisenhower. “We and the United States Government,” said Sir Anthony, “as we have repeatedly stated, are ready to help financially and guarantee agreed frontiers. Meanwhile, we must continue to try partite Agreement can itself be a cause for tension there.”

Britain, France and the United States are now examining the actions to be taken in line with their three-power Declaration of 1950, the Prime Minister declared. He asserted that the three powers are also considering the possibility of increasing the strength of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization under Maj. Gen, E. L. M. Burns “and will be ready to support any recommendations to this end by Gen. Burns and Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold.”

Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labor Party, and Laborites Emanuel Shinwell. A Henderson and K. G. Younger tried to elicit more definite information form Sir Anthony. They demanded to know: 1. Whether arms will be given to Israel to balance armament shipment to the Egyptians; 2. Whether any preventive action is planned to stop Egypt aggression before it is begun, and 3. Whether Gen. Burns has asked for an increase of his force. To all these questions, Sir Anthony gave evasive answers, taking recourse to his insistence on secrecy.