§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the general content 146W of the note verbale read by Mr. Yohann Meroz of the Israeli Foreign Ministry to Her Majesty's ambassador to Israel about the meeting in Tunisia between the Minister of State and Mr. Khaddoumi; what response Mr. Moberly made on behalf of Her Majesty's Government; and what action he envisages to improve British-Israeli relations.
§ Mr. HurdSuch exchanges normally remain confidential. However, in view of the public statement by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this meeting, I should like to inform the House of the terms of the ambassador's response to Mr. Meroz's representations, as follows:
- (a) The ambassador rejected Mr. Meroz's charge of bias against Israel in recent British Government statements, pointing to my right hon. Friend's speech to the Foreign Press Association on 18 April as a balanced account of the present situation in the Middle East;
- (b) The ambassador strongly refuted the suggestion that British Government statements in some way encouraged those who reject a peaceful settlement in the Middle East;
- (c) The ambassador emphasised that my recent meeting with Mr. Qaddumi of the PLO was fully consistent with the wish of Her Majesty's Government to encourage all concerned to seize the opportunity to seek a peaceful settlement.
Relations between Britain and Israel remain close. Further improvement would be welcome to Her Majesty's Government. Nothing would do more to achieve this than full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and reconsideration by the Israeli Government of their rejection of President Reagan's plan for a Middle East settlement, which Her Majesty's Government support.