The British Government is still prepared to use its good offices in an attempt to conciliate Arab-Israel difficulties, but such conciliation should be done in private meetings rather than in heated public discussions, Selwyn Lloyd, Britain’s retiring Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said here today.
Holding what he himself termed his “valedictory” press conference, Mr. Lloyd, who has been a member of the British delegation to the United Nations for four years, referred regretfully to Israel-Arab relations as one of the areas in which “no progress” has been achieved by the United Nations.
Mr. Lloyd, who told an eight-nation Arab delegation in London a month ago that Britain is willing to use its “good offices” in an effort to mediate the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, declared at his press conference today: “My position was stated very precisely in the statement I made in London just before leaving home for the General Assembly. We will do our part, directly or indirectly, all together or in smaller groups if we can help solve the problem.”
Mr. Lloyd avoided direct comment either on the proposal made by Abba S. Eban, head of the Israeli delegation, for non-aggression pacts between Israel and its Arab neighbors, or upon the Arab suggestion that a new Palestine commission be established, composed of the five Big Powers.
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