British experts in international law are now engaged in making a thorough study of the Sues Canal Convention and all other international agreements having a bearing on the question of free passage of the canal, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today.
The study, it is understood, is in connection with the consideration now being given by the Foreign Office to the possibility of international action to be taken over Egypt’s extension of the blockade of Israel-bound cargo at the canal. Selwyn Lloyd, Minister of State, admitted in Parliament earlier this week that more than 40 British ships had been stopped at the canal by the Egyptians.
The influential London Daily Telegraph declared today that the Egyptian interference with shipping had become a matter of “international concern.” It commented editorially that “Egypt now presumes to declare contraband foodstuffs and all other commodities likely to strengthen the war potential of the Zionists in Palestine in any way whatever’ and cargoes of meat and clothing, in fact, have been stopped.”
Referring to the Egyptian demands for British evacuation of the Canal Zone, the editorial asked, “what reliance could be placed on a government which already denies the Security Council’s resolution on the freedom of the canal?”
The diplomatic correspondent of the Manchester Guardian reported today that Egypt had posted two frigates off the Gulf of Akaba to tighten the blockade of the Israeli port of Eilath.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
