A high-ranking British government official today heaped praise on the Arab League, referred apologetically to the construction of submarines for Israel by British yards, and claimed that Foreign Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home’s Harrogate speech of Dec. 1970 in which he called for Israel’s withdrawal from the administered territories remained the keystone of Britain’s Middle East policy.
The remarks, by Joseph Godber, Minister of State at the Foreign Office and supervisor of its Middle East department, were made at the annual dinner of the Anglo-Arab Association honoring Abdel Khalik Hassouna, secretary general of the Arab League. Godber described Hassouna as “one of the most respected and distinguished figures in the world.”
Godber did not mention Israel by name in connection with the three submarines being built by the Vickers firm. He stressed that Britain has never embargoed military supplies to the Middle East, that it has supplied Egypt and other Arab states and that in any event the submarines are “small ones.” He said he wanted to “repudiate” the “rumor” that there has been a shift of emphasis in Britain’s policy toward a settlement of the Mideast dispute.
SEEKS PEACEFUL MIDEAST SOLUTION
“This is totally unfounded,” Godber said. “We want to see a peaceful settlement in accordance with Resolution 242. Our view about the terms of the Resolution is, as Sir Alec Douglas-Home said it out in Harrogate, that any settlement must be based on two principles: The inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war, the need for a just and lasting peace in which every state in the area could live in security.”
This means, Godber continued, “that Israeli armed forces must withdraw from the territories occupied in the conflict and the state of belligerency must be ended, and the right of every state to live in peace and secure and recognized boundaries must be recognized.” Sir Alec recently visited Israel and expressed a modified view of his Harrogate speech.
Godber said his government regards President Nixon’s forthcoming visit to Moscow “as the next milestone.” He added “We hope that the two superpowers will be able to reach some agreement on steps to break the Middle East deadlock.”
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