The British Government today refused to give assurance to members of the House of Commons that requests for arms by Israel would not be met by Britain before the matter is discussed in the House. “I could not give so frank an assurance as that, ” R. A. Allan, Foreign Office Undersecretary, told the Parliament today.
The assurance was asked by Dingle Foot, a Laborite, who wanted to know what requests the British Government had received for the sale or transfer of rockets or other arms to Israel. Mr. Allen replied that as a matter of general principle, the Government felt it was not in public interest to disclose whether requests for arms had been received from other governments or to state the extent, if any, to which particular requests would be made.
Mr. Allan told the House that the question of big power supply of arms to Middle East countries was not on the agenda of the 10-power disarmament conference now underway in Geneva. He was asked to what extent it was the British Government’s policy to seek the cooperation of the Soviet Government in maintaining a balance of arms among Middle East countries, as specified in the 1950 Tripartite Declaration.
Mr. Allan said that the British Government holds the view that it was the duty of the major powers to “show restraint” in supplying arms to Middle East countries and that this view was “well known” to the Soviet Government. Labor Deputy Dennis Healey said that it was “highly undesirable” that Middle East nations “should waste their money piling up armaments” when agreement between the major powers could make this unnecessary. He asked if the British Government was negotiating with the Soviet Union to reach some formal agreement on the problem.
Mr. Allan replied that the British Government was fully aware of the dangers of an arms race in the Middle East “or anywhere else. That is why particular importance is attached to the ten-power conference. ” However, he added, “there are no negotiations on this matter at the moment.”
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