British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd denied categorically today any “collusion” between Britain and France and Israel in the Sinai campaign, as he opened a two-day policy debate on the Middle East which will culminate tomorrow night in a vote of confidence. Mr. Lloyd stated flatly: “There was no prior agreement between us about it.”
Throughout the debate Labor MP’s, led by Aneurin Bevan, attacked the government on this point, attempting to link events in the weeks before the operation in such a manner as to prove “collusion” among the three countries.
The Foreign Secretary reviewed the situation existing just prior to the Israeli attack. He noted the build-up of tension with Jordan. He placed stress on the Israeli fears resulting from conclusion of the Egyptian-Jordan-Syrian military pact in October and the mounting wave of fedayeen attacks. He also underlined Israel’s continuous raising of the question of the blockading of the Suez Canal to Israel-bound shipping, terming it an “important ingredient” of the dispute.
Mr. Lloyd dealt at some length with Soviet influence in Egypt and what it might have meant for Israel and the West. He recalled that Israel had captured a million blankets and large quantities of ammunition for types of weapons which were not yet in Egypt, implying that Soviet troops would have been in Egypt in the near future. He said that the British Government believed that there had been 1,000 Soviet technicians in Egypt for servicing of equipment or training Egyptian troops.
The most friendly voice to be raised today in Israel’s behalf from the Labor benches was that of Hugh Dalton, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last Labor Cabinet, who chided Britain voting for Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai. He expressed the hope that the Sinai Peninsula would now be demilitarized and that Gaza would not be handed back to Nasser. Finally, he cheered the Israel acquisition of Egyptian arms in the Sinai Desert, asserting that “they know how to use them.”
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