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Israel May Seek Return of Inge Toft; Reject’s Hammarskjold’s Position

September 3, 1959
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In a move to break the deadlock over the impounding of the Inge Toft at Port Said since may 21, and UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s failure to shake Egyptian intransigence on the issue, the Israeli Cabinet will discuss, at its meeting Sunday, a proposal to instruct the captain of the Danish freighter to return to Israel with his cargo, it was learned here today. It is still open to question, however, whether the United Arab Republic will permit the Inge Toft to leave for Haifa with its cargo.

The Cabinet will also consider on Sunday a proposal to lay the entire Suez issue before the forthcoming UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile, there was mounting dissatisfaction here in official Israeli circles over Mr. Hammarskjold’s entire attitude on the Suez issue. Dispatches today from Montevideo. Uruguay, where Mr. Hammarskjold has been visiting, reported he said at a news conference that Egypt was not the only nation holding a ship. He referred to the fact that, last May, Israel seized a small Egyptian coastal vessel trespassing in Israeli waters.

It was pointed out that the two cases were not at all on the same level. In the case of the Inge Toft and other recent Egyptian actions, Egypt actually violated a United Nations Security Council resolution ordering cessation of interference with all shipping through the Suez Canal “wherever bound. ” This fact was the basis of a statement made by Foreign Minister Golda Meir that Egypt was “in conflict” with the UN. Mr. Hammarskjold’s attitude is that there is no conflict between the world organization and Egypt. Mrs. Meir’s statement, without naming the UN chief, is seen as a categoric rejection of Mr. Hammarskjold’s position.

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