Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold asserted flatly here today that he never made an “agreement” with United Arab Republic President Gamal. Abdel Nasser about Egyptian permission for passage through the Suez Canal of ships carrying Israeli cargoes.
At a news conference today, he was asked whether he could reveal “the facts” behind the attempt of a Greek freighter, the Astypalea, to transit the Suez Canal last December carrying a cargo that had been purchased F.O.B. Haifa. Israeli circles had asserted that the Astypalea case fell into the category of an agreement purportedly made between Mr. Hammarskjold and President Nasser to allow canal passage for foreign ships carrying cargoes to or from Israel when those cargoes were actually owned by non-Israelis.
The Secretary General replied that “there has never been any agreement and that is well known to both parties.” In response to another question referring to the picketing of Egyptian ships and embracing the entire principle of freedom of navigation through the Suez Canal, Mr. Hammarksjold said that he considered trade union action on this issue as a method that touched only the symptoms of the problem and does not go to the roots.
“The methods for reaching a solution.” he said, “must be political. This problem is linked up with others–if not legally, then certainly politically. Counter-actions concerned with symptoms do not offer the most effective solution.” The Secretary General declined to comment on a reporter’s question as to whether the International Court of Justice might fruitfully attempt a solution of the Suez Canal problem.
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