Israeli passage of the Suez Canal will be the coming test for the United Nations, foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd told Commons today.
The Foreign Secretary also reiterated the British Government’s view that the Gulf of Akaba was an international waterway free to the passage of the vessels of all nations. However, under sharp questioning b, Aneurin Bevan, one of the Labor Party chiefs, he refused to have the government take the initiative in widening use of the gulf. If British shippers wished to use the waterway, the government would “support them in their use of it, ” he said.
Emanuel Shinwell, former Labor War Minister, urged that the UN enforce Israel’s right to use the Suez Canal. A forced passage by Israel alone might result in war, which everyone wished to avoid, he said. The Foreign Secretary agreed that this was a test for the UN. He further expressed the view that no satisfactory permanent settlement of the canal problem could be achieved which did not conform to principles adopted by the Security Council guaranteeing all nations the right of passage.
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.
