THE ULTIMATUM
By ERSKINE B. CHILDERS
For secrets are edged tools, And must be kept from children and from fools.
SIR MARTIN MAR-AU.
WHAT, in fact, are the 'secrets' of Suez? No one now seriously doubts that there was collusion. But collusion initiated by whom, on what date, between which parties, with what actions in mind, and with what timetable? Did Sir Anthony Eden know about the Israeli attack- plan? When did he know? Did he know that the French were going to give direct combat support to Israel? Did Israel know in advance about the Anglo-French ultimatum? If so, what did Israel understand about it?
To reconstruct the story, to answer such ques- tions, is very much a detective endeavour. There is the hard core of known fact; a mass of circum- stantial evidence; and a jungle of supposition. The instinct of the investigator is to plunge at once into the jungle. But first, it is worth taking a look at what I can only describe as the proclivities of the parties concerned. Sir Anthony Eden, for example, had certain fixed beliefs. As Prime Minister he had access to experts whose job it was to consider any foreign situation, and the possible methods of dealing with it. But in Sir Anthony's experience —and in the experience of those whom he did choose to consult—there lay certain premises, certain fixed ideas about Britain's place in the Middle East. These have to be carefully assessed; and so, also, must the known aims, attitudes, and sensitivities of two other leaders : Mollet and Ben-Gurion. Only by understanding them can we hope to reconstruct the Suez story.
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