Firm Understanding Between Britain and Israel is Urged by London Times

A firm understanding between Israel and Britain was urged in an editorial in the London Times. Declaring that prospects of a general settlement between the Arab states and Israel have not been appreciably advanced by the efforts of the U.N. Palestine Conciliation Commission, the paper said:

“Egypt and other Arab states insist that Israel must comply with the decision taken at Lake Success for the readmission of Arab refugees before they will negotiate. At the next General Assembly meeting the Arab states are to raise the question of refugees. Israel will then have the opportunity of explaining her real difficulties.

“Only a greater sense of realism induced by the threatening international situation, which is now beginning to influence Arab countries, will convince them of the truth that in the interests of the entire Middle East region, individual settlements with Israel are indispensable. They have to accept the new state as permanent, which some of them have not yet done.

“Unfortunately, there have been setbacks to Israel’s prospects of quickly establishing working relations with Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon,” the editorial pointed out. It mentioned the charges of brutality against Israelis preventing infiltration, the outting off of the Arab frontier villages from water supplies, and the fear of Israel’s territorial expansion despite the three-power guarantee.

“The British part in a settlement is to seek a firm understanding with Israel on the one hand and with the Arab states on the other,” the Times declared. “An alliance between Britain and Egypt on equal terms for protecting their common interest in peace in the Middle East–which could lead to similar pacts with other Arab countries and the establishment of good relations between the Arab world and Western powers as well as between the Arab world and Israel–is essential if the urgent economic and social problems of the Middle East are to be solved,” the editorial concluded.