§ 50. Mr. Levyasked the Minister of Defence what arms and munitions have been supplied or promised by this country to Arabs inside or outside Palestine since the United Nations' decision in favour of partition.
§ Mr. AlexanderAs I stated in reply to the hon. Member for South Portsmouth (Sir J. Lucas) on 4th February, the export of military material from this country to any part of the Middle East is strictly confined to what is required to honour long standing Treaty obligations to certain Arab Governments, which have been accustomed for many years to rely on us for the equipment of their forces. These involve many categories of material, many of them of a very minor nature; some are provided from local resources. I attach below a broad indication of the major items which are being supplied.
No additional promises of military material have been made to Arab countries, and our present commitments would be reconsidered if it should appear that those arms were being diverted to Palestine. There is at present an embargo on the entry into Palestine of all military material except for the security forces of the mandatory Government. No military material has been supplied or promised to Arabs in Palestine.
Details are as follows:
Iraq.—Aircraft, small quantities of 25 pdr. and anti-tank guns, personal weapons, A.A. guns, armoured cars and stores of ammunition for these weapons.
224WEgypt.—Small arms ammunition and maintenance requirements, including the exchange of small numbers of rifles, pistols, sub-machine guns and mortars.
Transjordan.—Day to day maintenance requirements, mainly ammunition and transport, for the Transjordan Army of 6,000 troops, plus certain weapons and equipment which will be required by that Army on the re-organisation made essential by our withdrawal from Palestine in the near future.