President Eisenhower made known at his press conference today that he still hopes to get a satisfactory Suez Canal agreement through direct negotiations with Egyptian President Nasser
Mr. Eisenhower said the United States was not yet ready to abandon direct negotiations. He said he could not assume the United States would not get satisfactory agreement. But he did not know much longer such negotiations would be continued. This had the effect of rejecting French and British suggestions urging the return of the Suez issue to the United Nations Security Council.
Israel’s right to use the Suez Canal should be as inviolate as America’s, Rep. Hugh Scott. Pennsylvania Republican, said here. He expressed the opinion that refusal of canal passage to an Israel ship would be a “clear violation of international law.” He thought the United Nations should be as quick to respond in that event as it was last November when UN action was taken to defend Egypt.
The Congressman termed Egyptian President Nasser a “conscienceless bluffer” and said it was time Col Nasser’s bluff was called. Rep. Scott found it difficult to understand why Col. Nasser is allowed to exercise “arrogance” in arbitrarily controlling the world’s most important waterway.” He accused the United Nations of “timorous side-stepping” of the Suez issue and “appeasement” of Masser.
State Department spokesman Lincoln White today reiterated that the American oil tanker Kern Hills which brought 16, 000 tons of oil to Israel’s Akaba Gulf port of Elath this week was under Israeli charter and that no instructions were issued by the United States Government to this or any other ship to transit the Strait of Tiran.
Mr. White pointed out, however, that Secretary of State Dulles had said that in normal relations with Israel American ships would be calling at Elath. Mr. White again stressed that the Kern Hills voyage should not be considered a specific test of free passage but a normal commercial operation. He declared that the U. S. has no specific new information on reports of the shipment of late model jet fighters by Russia to Egypt.
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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.
