Reports reaching here today from Egypt said that the Egyptian Cabinet decided at a secret meeting last night to permit oil tankers en route to Israel to pass through the Suez Canal.
Details of the purported decision were not available here, but one informed source expressed the belief that unrefined oil en route to the Haifa refineries would be allowed through the Suez Canal on condition that the refined product would be reshipped and not used in the Jewish state. A Cairo dispatch to Reuters quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Salah el Din Bey as stating that the decision was taken to “make sure that no unrefined petrol goes to Israel.”
Meanwhile, David Horowitz, director-general of Israel Finance Ministry, who is here conducting negotiations with the British Government on oil problems, left today for Paris for several days. The negotiations will be resumed on Friday upon his return to London.
Israel sources here firmly refuse to make any comment on progress of the talks between Britain and Israel on oil, which obviously involve economic and political questions of the greatest delicacy. “We are not going to jeopardize these important talks by Premature statements,” one Israel source said today.
Heither British nor Israel circles here would comment today on a report in the Daily Graphic that British arms may be supplied to Israel as a result of secret consultations now said to be in progress between Washington and London on the recent Three-Power statement of policy on arms for the Near East.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
