British Parliament is Told Not to Request Recognition of Israel During Truce Period

Declaring that his is “a thoroughly bad time” to press for British recognition of Israel, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Christopher Mayhew today pleaded with the House of Commons to permit the status quo in Palestine during the truce period.

Replying to a bitter attack on the Palestine policy of Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin by Harold Lever, Laborite M.P., Mayhew asserted that recognition of Israel at present would be an act of political intervention which would favor one side and be at present would be an act of political intervention which would favor one side and be wholly inconsistent with the spirit of the truce. He said such a move could prejudice eventual mediation of the Arab-Jewish war and criticized Lever for bringing up the Palestine question, “when the cease-fire has just been affected.”