ANGLO-FRENCH AGREEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26033, 22 December 1945, Page 6

ANGLO-FRENCH AGREEMENT

The terms of the Anglo-French agreement with reference to the future disposition of troops in the Levant and generally to Middle East policy have not yet been made public. The mere fact, however, that such an agreement has been reached is a welcome portent as it represents a considerable amelioration of the position which has existed in recent months. French sensitiveness, which has manifested itself in several ways since the liberation, was particularly noticeable when in the first half of this year it became necessary for Great Britain to intervene in Syria. British action was taken then because it was felt to be necessary in the interests of law and order throughout the Middle East, but French opinion, unexpectedly, tended to regard' the matter as one of first class importance and saw the operations as a recrudescence of a supposed English ambition to clear the French qut of the whole region. It was a most regrettable episode, but the debate in the French Consultative Assembly at least served the useful purpose of informing the French public for the first time that it was to errors in French policy that the Syrian trouble was basically ascribable. It had to be explained that France had been trying to win a position by force which, in the modern world, could be attained only through confidence. The result of the new attitude was seen in August when belated military concessions were made. These were accepted locally as rights which were long overdue, but the steps now to be taken should be more valuable. Under the new agreement British troops are to withdraw to Palestine, and the French troops will remove temporarily to the Lebanon and will remain there until security arrangements for Syria are made by the United Nations at some date, it is expected, early in the New Year. This in itself may seem little enough, but it reflects the fact that a substantial improvement in the relationships between Great Britain and France has lately been effected. Moreover, any new arrangement in this area at the present time must affect the whole of the Middle East. The arrival of the British forces in Palestine will be regarded there purely from a local standpoint and the reaction may well be unfavourable, but the Arab League as a whole—and there is a strong PanArab feeling in Syria—should be more tolerant. On even broader grounds, too, the agreement should be well received. The Syrian troubles naturally affected European relationships between Great Britain and France, and this cause for friction has now apparently been remOTed. It has been commented also that the development of Russia and the United States as opposing poles in international affairs has drawn Great Britain and France closer together in an understanding of their mutual spheres of interest.