Arabs Threaten to Boycott U.S. Ships; Protest ‘cleopatra’ Picketing

State Department authorities today said that they received no official reports from United States consular officers in Arab countries to the effect that longshoremen in Arab ports will refuse to unload American ships because of the refusal of New York dockworkers to unload the Egyptian freighter Cleopatra. They added that the State Department is aware of such Arab threats from press reports.

The State Department officials said that it would be inappropriate for the government to comment on the Cleopatra case while the case is under judicial review. Agents of the Cleopatra are seeking legal action through courts to lift the New York maritime boycott. The New York maritime unions have imposed their boycott of the Egyptian ship in reprisal for the Arab boycott against American ships trading with Israel.

(A report from London said that the Egyptian Dockers Union, at Alexandria, decided today to boycott American ships unless the maritime unions now picketing the Egyptian passenger-cargo vessel Cleopatra, in the New York harbor, lift their boycott.)

Word was received here today that workers in Port Said and Latakia have already refused to work on American ships. At a meeting in Port Said last night, workers agreed to suspend service to American ships. A spokesman in Port Said said the decision was binding on 32,000 workers in Arab ports.

A meeting of the executive council of the Arab Labor Union will meet Wednesday to discuss the American boycott. Delegates are expected from Libya. Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Egypt. The Arabs have described the New York boycott move as a pressure aimed at “forcing” a lifting of the Arab blockade against Israel.