President Truman’s statement today on Palestine was issued despite a plea by Prime Minister Attlee that it be held until Attlee could confer with Foreign Minister Bevin, who is now in Paris at the Peace Conference.
This was revealed tonight by a Foreign Office spokesman, who said that the statement was “officially regretted.” It is understood that a note conveying the Prime Minister’s displeasure has already been dispatched to Washington.
The text of the Foreign Office statement read as follows:
“The Prime Minister received President Truman’s message only at midnight and immediately requested the President to delay the issue of the statement until the Prime Minister had an opportunity to get in touch with the Foreign Secretary who is in Paris and discuss the matter, and would immediately communicate with the President. This request was not complied with.
“The British Government have been conducting negotiations with both the Jews and Arabs. And these discussions have not been broken off. Consultation with the Jews is actually in progress at this moment.
“It is most unfortunate that a statement of this kind should have been made which may well jeopardize a settlement of this most important matter.”
The general attitude expressed by official British circles was that no action could be taken on immigration into Palestine until the political status of the country had been decided. They said that responsibility for adjournment of the Palestine conference should be laid at the door of the Jews, who refused to attend.
The Arab reaction to the Truman statement was a statement that it would requires 500,000 U.S. troops to carry out his proposals.
(See earlier story on following pages)
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