British troops will not be used in the Akaba area against Israel unless Transjordan specifically asks for British support or in the went of a direct threat to the British force stationed in that region, Hector McNeil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, declared today in Commons.
McNeil, pressed for information concerning the alleged incursion of Transjordan territory by Israeli forces, repeated the gist of the Amman dispatches and added that no British forces were involved. He said that the U.N. was checking on the reports and that the Foreign Secretary preferred to make no further statement until the findings of the U.N. observers were available.
(In Washington a State Department spokesman today declared that Secretary of State Dean Acheson was in close touch with British Ambassador Sir Oliver Franks on the Akaba situation. The spokesman did not reveal the precise nature of the talks, saying only that “information on Akaba” was exchanged.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
