U.S. Britain, France Agree on Text of Resolution Against Egyptian Blockade of Canal

The United States, Britain and France agreed today on the text of a resolution to be submitted to the Security Council on Thursday, when it resumes consideration of the Israeli complaint against Egypt, provided that in the interim no indication is received that Egypt will act voluntarily to lift its blockade at the Suez Canal of shipping bound for Israel.

This resolution will “request” Egypt to raise its blockade and will place the Council on record as holding the blockade to be wrong. It would thus, in the opinion of observers, condemn the Egyptian blockade morally and legally and make the Council’s position clear.

Efforts made by the Americans and British here, in Washington, London and Cairo through diplomatic channels to persuade the Egyptians to act voluntarily have met with no success. One of the latest attempts came last Saturday when American Ambassador Jefferson B. Caffery visited Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Selah Eddin at Alexandria. Failure of these efforts held out little hope of any change in the Egyptian attitude between now and the convening of the Security Council session Thursday morning.

Plans for mediating the dispute between Israel and Egypt through a one-man “good offices” committee, which the United States had been considering, were believed to have been shelved as a result of the latest indications of the Egyptian attitude. In the American delegation it was felt that there was no point in seeking to mediate the issue unless there were some prior indication that the mediation effort could be successful.

Informed observers here were quick to notice the difference in procedure in the handling of the Syrian complaint against Israel last May and the kid-glove treatment of the Israeli complaint against Egypt now. In the former case, the United States, without delay, introduced a strongly-worded resolution condemning Israel’s actions in the Huleh region and ordering Israel to cease forthwith. In the Israeli complaint against Egypt, over a situation that has continued for three years, the United States is moving delicately, seeking not to offend the Egyptians, and the resolution it is advancing merely “requests” but does not order Egypt to halt a universally condemned violation of international law.