REPORTS ILL-FOUNDED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27043, 30 March 1949, Page 5

REPORTS ILL-FOUNDED

Early Arab-Israeli Peace Discussions PAUSE IN PALESTINE WAR New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9.36 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 29. Saying that hopes and reports of early ArabIsraeli peace talks are ill-founded, the special correspondent of The Times in Beirut points out that although a military armistice has been concluded between the Lebanon and Israel the talks between the Transjordan and Israel are still in progress, while Syria and Israel have not yet met. The Arabs, he says, are in no hurry to conclude a peace that might amount to recognition of Israel and the admission of her sovereignty to part of Palestine. The present cessation of hostilities is, therefore, seen simply as a stage in the Arab-Israeli conflict and not necessarily as a prelude to permanent peace talks. The correspondent adds that while the Arabs are prepared to discuss the problems of the Arab refugees and of Jerusalem they are certainly not yet prepared to accept the establishment of Israel as a permanent, unshakable fact.

The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr C. P. Mayhew, commenting in the House of Commons yesterday on Transjordan’s request for British assistance with patrols along the frontier near Akaba, said that Britain hoped a successful conclusion to the Israel-Transjordan cease-fire negotiations would make such action unnecessary. Mr Mayhew said it was only the presence of a defensive British force at Akaba which stabilised the situation

and enabled the Israeli-Transjordan negotiations to proceed as far as they had done. . . He said the mission of the British forces was to defend Akaba and to support Transjordan in case Transjordan territory was attacked. Mr Mayhew added that after the conclusion of the Israeli-Egyptian armistice Israeli forces moved southward to the Gulf of Akaba, thus contravening the injunctions of the Security Council and giving the Transjordan Government sufficient cause to fear Israeli intentions regarding Transjordan’s southern frontier.

Mr Mayhew denied that the Security Council resolution of May 29, 1948—which called on the Government not to introduce fighting personnel into Palestine and the Arab States during the cease-fire-debarred Britain from reinforcing or altering her forces in the Middle East. He pointed out that Britain was not engaged in the conflict. Mr Mayhew said that a statement on these lines was being communicated to the United Nations Secre-tary-General. A British Foreign Office spokesman to-day confirmed that Transjordan had asked for RAF assistance in creating a Transjordan air force. The spokesman said the request, received some months ago, was still under consideration. It was officially stated that the requested assistance be in pilot training and not the provision of equipment. Reuter reports that the British destroyer Troubridge arrived at Akaba at the week-end. The ■ special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Amman says the latest estimates put the strength of the Jewish forces on the Gulf of Akaba at one battalion with independent supporting detachments. The original United Nations observers’ estimates, which placed the strength of the Jewish forces at only 200, are now considered to be well short of facts. , . .. . The correspondent says that reliable neutral sources are convinced that if the British had not occupied Akaba the Jews would have found some pretext for seizing the port and that the United Nations would have been helpless in the face of yet another fait accompli. , . , Transjordan sources stress the fact that their country has for so long been known throughout the Middle East as Britain’s most devoted ally that if Britain allowed Transjordan to collapse no other Eastern country would trust her pledges again-