BRITAIN CHARGED WITH TRAINING GERMANS FOR “WAR AGAINST ISRAELIS”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26980, 15 January 1949, Page 7

BRITAIN CHARGED WITH TRAINING GERMANS FOR “WAR AGAINST ISRAELIS”

New Zealand'Press Association—Copyright jtec. 11.55 p.m. NEW YORK, Jan. 13. The charge that Britain has released 6000 former German prisoners of war for training in Egypt “ for participation in a war against Israel,” and that two German brigades have been formed, is made in a document submitted to President Truman and the United Nations to-day. A group known as “ Nation Associates ” submitted the allegations which, it said, were contained in a “ secret French intelligence report.” The group also alleged that military planes had flown German generals from the British zone of Germany to assist in the command of Arab armies. Nation Associates claimed that the French Intelligence report said that the Egyptians, with British permission, were training two brigades of Germans in Mersa Matruh and Solium, and that three German generals Were attached to the Iraqi-Transjordan ‘ high command, the Syrian high command, and the Lebanese high command. In a note attached to the alleged French report, Miss Freda Kirchwey, president of Nation Associates and editor and publisher of the political magazine, the Nation, requests that “ Britain and Egypt be denied the opportunity of using their privileged positions as members of the Security to sabotage the decisions of the United Nations and peace in the Mfddle East.”

President Truman denied at a press conference to-day that relations between Britain and the United States were strained as a result of the Palestine crisis. The President turned aside most questions on United States policy on Palestine by referring to a statement made by the American delegate, Dr Philip Jessup, at a meeting of the Security Council on November 20. Dr Jessup on that date said the United States accepted the following principles:—First, peace should be restored in Palestine; secondly. Israel should be admitted to the United Nations; thirdly, Israel’s claims to the boundaries laid down in the original United Nations partition plan of November 29, 1947, should be recognised. It was reported from Lake Success to-day that there has still been no m,ove to bring before the Security Council the complaint by Israel that Britain was “ menacing ” her by troop movements in the eastern Mediterranean. The Council’s President. General McNaughton, said to-day that the Israeli letter suggesting that the Council investigate the situation had been distributed to- all members, and if one of them wanted to bring the matter before the Council it could. Co-operative Effort

A message from London says that Britain will make an all-out effort for , a united Anglo-American front to restore peace in the Middle East. Political observers say this decision was' • made yesterday at a special meeting of the British Cabinet on the Middle East crisis. As a first step in this direction, the British Ambassador to the United States. Sir Oliver Franks, saw President Truman in Washington to-day. Sir Oliver conferred for half an hour with the President, and said later that he had submitted “the views of my Government on the Palestine situation.” He' declined to comment when a reporter said that there were reports which said he proposed to “ get tough." In pressing Britain’s views, it is thought in London that Sir Oliver explained to President Truman how British policy affects the problem of stability and security in the Middle East. This stability is of vital interest, not only to Britain, but also to the United Nations. He probably explained recent British actions in the Middle East, particularly the despatch of British troops to the Red Sea port of Akaba, and stressed the British view that the upholding of the authority of the Security Council is of vital importance. This is regarded in London as the only- sure method of securing peace, and it is to this end that Britain is seeking to secure closer . co-ordination of British and United States policy. It is understood in Washington that Sir Oliver Franks sought from President Truman, in his constitutional capacity of supreme originator of United States foreign policy, a.full, up-to-date explanation of United States policy towards Palestine and authoritative amplification of recent United States representations to Britain, Egypt, and Israel. Talks at Rhodes At Rhodes to-day, the acting United Nations mediator, Dr Ralph Bunche, talked privately with leaders of the Jewish and Egyptian delegations, when the peace talks openedFresh hopes of a Jewish-Egyptian peace settlement have been raised by reports that both sides are prepared to make . concessions, says Reuter’s Rhodes correspondent. The Jews as well as the Egyptians are believed to be prepared to. recede from their original demands for the whole Negeb area—regarded as the key to a peaceful solution- The extent to which both sides are willing to compromise, however, is being kept as a closely-guarded secret for use as a bargaining card. An Israeli spokesman in Tel-Aviv . to-day claimed that the Jewish forces were being demobilised. Sufficient men would be retained to defend the Israeli border. “The war is pretty much over as far as the Jews are concerned,” he said. Appeals by Jews Speaking at the annual conference of the united Jewish appeal to-day at Atlantic City, Dt Bernard Joseph, Military Governor of Jerusalem, said that 90,000 Jews in the new section of Jerusalem “will never give up Jerusalem to please the desires of foreign States.” ; '

He said the Israeli Government would consider the internationalisation of the old section of Jerusalem, because it recognised the special interests of world Christianity and Islam in their holy places. Dr Joseph added that the Israeli Government considered the Negeb its own, and looked forward to making it a fertile land. . In New York, Dr A. H. Silver, chairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council, announced council had called an extraordinary emergency conference of Jewish leaders for January 18 in New York to devise a programme of united action to thwart “ current British preparations for military intervention against Israel.” British Air Reconnaissance Meanwhile,’ in London, it is revealed that British air reconnaissance over the Sinai Peninsula district of Egypt, in which the five Royal Air Force planes were shot down, was taken with the knowledge and approval of the United States Government. .An official statement issued by the Foreign Office said that the British authorities undertook air reconnaissance on their own responsibility, because it had been agreed in Washington that precise information was needed about the extent of the Israeli incursion into Egypt. The information could not be obtained from United Nations observers- The Foreign Office did not deny that Egyptian aircraft sometimes accompanied RAF machines.