Informed British sources said today that Great Britain and the United States had agreed on measures for “joint, prompt, and active intervention” in the event of an attack by either Israel or the Arab States. This action, it was stated, would be immediate and would range from sanctions against the aggressor to outright support of the party attacked.
The decisions on which these measures were based were reached in principle during the recent top-level Anglo-American talks in Washington, British sources stated. Details were worked out in the tripartite talks in Washington.
The Western Powers, it was said here, based their plans largely on the assumption that Egypt would not venture into aggression and that the chief danger to peace lay in the possibility of a sudden attack by Israel. A British spokesman cited, in support of this, Israel reprisal actions condemned by the United Nations Security Council. He indicated that the British Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, would warn both Tel Aviv and Cairo of the implications of the joint decision when he visited there early next month.
(In Washington, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told a press conference today that the London reports of the agreement were beyond anything agreed upon in the tripartite talks. He declared that the question of action in the event of Arab-Israel hostilities was still in process of discussion and that no war plans were involved in the tripartite deliberations.
(The tripartite powers, Mr. Dulles asserted, had not yet attempted to formalize their position but that increasing understanding of lines of action pointed not only toward military measures but the whole problem loomed as a special matter for the United Nations. Israel, he recalled, was created by the United Nations, the UN participated in the Arab-Israel truce negotiations and Israel, in a certain sense, was the ward of the United Nations. Mr. Dulles said he planned a full discussion of this issue at his luncheon with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold tomorrow.)
EDEN IN “COMPLETE AGREEMENT” WITH DULLES ON GUARANTEES
No indication of such a significant agreement on Middle East policy was given during the course of last night’s rambling debate in the House of Commons on British foreign policy. The Times of London editorially welcomed optimism over the possibilities of settlement of the Arab-Israel dispute voiced by Foreign Secretary Lloyd but noted, however, that “it is less easy to see that it is grounded on any solid evidence.”
In his reply winding up the debate last night, Premier Sir Anthony Eden declared Britain was “in complete agreement” with proposals by Secretary of State Dulles for a guarantee of the boundaries of Israel and the Arab states once they had reached agreement.
Sir Anthony said that Britain was trying to accomplish three things in the Arab-Israel situation, first and most important being a settlement. On this, he said, “we have no illusions of the difficulty” but must continue efforts because “it is the only final answer to the present situation.”
The second point cited by the Prime Minister was the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 The third point, he said, was that of neutral zones on the Israel borders and whether possible increases there would reduce the risk of incidents. Sir Anthony said that the Foreign Secretary would discuss, on his forthcoming tour of the Middle East, an increase in the number of truce observers. He said that “I share his view, To increase the numbers would reduce the risk of conflict while search is being made for a settlement.”
As did Mr. Lloyd earlier in the debate, Sir Anthony rejected suggestions that the Soviet Union be brought into consultations on the Middle East. He told his critics that “you must have some confidence between the Powers before you can sit down to discuss problems of this kind with any real hope of making progress. If you are not going to make progress, then it is much better not to sit down, because the results are likely to be worse at the end rather than better.”
(Admiral Arthur W. Radford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington after appearing before the Senate group that there has been no change in orders to the U.S. Mediterranean Fleet as a result of Arab-Israel tension.)
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.
