Israel Says Canal Will Be Open to Its Vessels or It Will Bar Egypt’s

Israel responded today to threats by Egypt to bar use of the Suez Canal by force to Israeli vessels by reaffirming its position that either Israel and Egypt could both use the waterway or that neither could.

The stand was restated here after a meeting yesterday in Cairo between Lt. Gen. Odd Bull, director of the United Nations observation activities on the Canal, and Salah Gohar, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. Gohar reportedly told Gen. Bull that Egypt would never permit Israeli navigation through the Canal. One of the events which led to the sharp fighting along the Canal last Saturday was the presence of Israeli patrol ships on the eastern side of the waterway.

Officials here indicated that the only way Egypt could enforce Gohar’s ultimatum would be by shooting at Israeli vessels along the Canal’s eastern shore at the northern tip of the waterway. At that point the Canal is only about 100 yards wide and the Egyptians could bar the Israeli ships by force.

Gen. Bull was scheduled to return to Israel today from Cairo for talks with Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, presumably including a report on the Egyptian official’s warning. However, Israel plans to stress that if the Egyptians seek to bar Israeli shipping, Israel will in turn act to prevent Egyptian vessels from sailing along the Canal’s western shore.

To avoid any new escalation in the current stalemate, Israeli vessels, most of them torpedo boats, are not moving in the Canal’s northern tip, thus avoiding Egyptian fire which Israel would feel compelled to answer. Israeli vessels are using the waterway near the southern end, by Bitter Lake, where the waterway is wide enough to keep Israeli ships outside the effective range of Egyptian guns there. Israeli sources feel that these Israeli-flagged ships are enforcing Israel’s presence in the Canal waters.