Nasser Statement on Eve of Hammarskjold Talks Perils Suez Solution

A newly-uttered defiance by Egypt cast gloom today over the United Nations on the eve of Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s arrival in Cairo for a new effort to tackle the most recent Israeli-Egyptian dispute. Apparently aiming another blow directly at Mr. Hammarskjold’s mission, United Arab Republic President Gamal. Abdel Nasser declared today that he was determined to keep the Suez Canal closed to Israeli cargoes, “regardless of consequences.”

The statement appeared in the Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, a journal frequently considered a government mouthpiece. It was the second Egyptian defiance of Mr. Hammarskjold in less than a week. Last Thursday, an Egyptian “war prize” court confirmed the “legality” of the confiscation of an Israel cargo taken by Egyptian authorities off a Liberian ship, the Kapitan Manolis, last February.

Now, a Danish vessel, the Inge Toft, is tied to a dock at Port Said, entrance to the Suez Canal. The captain of the Inge Toft has persistently refused to unload his Israel-originated cargo, which the Egyptians said they would confiscate.

(In London, Israeli Charge d’Affaires Arthur Liveran called at the Foreign Office today, reportedly for a discussion of the Suez Canal situation.

(In Washington, the Israeli Charge d’Affaires, Yaacov Herzog, had a meeting yesterday with Deputy Under-Secretary of State Robert Murphy, and it was presumed this was another in a series of meetings dealing with the Suez question.)

Mr. Nasser asserted in the Al Ahram interview that the ban on Israeli cargoes “is on a sound basis, because a state of war still exists between the UAR and Israel.” He said that the Constantinople Convention of 1888, dealing with freedom of passage through the Suez Canal, “gives us a right to take measures to safeguard the Canal.” The same Convention, observers here pointed out, enjoins the operator of the Canal to permit freedom of shipping to all nations, “in peace and war.”

According to Nasser’s latest statement, “the real issue at stake is the rights of the Palestinian Arabs.” Speaking of the Arab refugees as “the Palestinian people,” Nasser said further; “Undoubtedly, the ban on Israeli shipping through the Canal is one of the remaining cards in the hands of the Palestinian people.” He charged that “Israel is trying to ship goods on various foreign ships in order to inflame those nations against the UAR.”

With Nasser thus apparently slamming the door in Mr. Hammarskjold’s face, even before the UN Chief’s arrival in Cairo, there was concern here lest the Secretary General lose face through his latest mission to the Middle East. It was also feared by some here that, in order to save face, Mr. Hammarskjold might propose to Nasser some formula which would be found unsatisfactory to Israel.