Lloyd Rejects Proposal for East-west Parley on Arms for Mid-east

Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd turned down in the House of Commons tonight a proposal by Laborite Philips Price that he call a conference of signatories to the Tripartite Declaration, the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia to secure an agreement that no further arms be sent to the Middle East “in view of the relative balance of forces now existing between Israel and the neighboring Arab States.”

The Foreign Secretary called the proposals “ingenious” but expressed doubt that such a conference could be held. He said “the difficulty lies in finding a fair balance.

In Cairo today, Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser put on Egypt’s biggest military show in honor of Soviet Foreign Minister Dmitri Shepilov. Stalin tanks and other armor rumbled through Cairo’s Republic Square as Ilyushin Jet bombers and MIG fighters, delivered to Egypt by Czechoslovakia, roared overhead. German-trained Egyptian soldiers marched past the reviewing stand with contingents from other Arab States. The demonstration underlined Col. Nasser’s demand that Egypt become strong “so that we may be able to restore to the people of Palestine their rights of freedom and existence.”

(Attention of the State Department was drawn today to Col. Nasser’s new threats when Rabbi Philip Bernstein, chairman of the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs, met with Robert Murphy, Deputy Undersecretary of State, and George V. Allen. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Rabbi Bernstein cited these threats and the visit to Cairo of the Soviet diplomat as accentuating need for American action on Israel’s arms application.)