Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said today that while he deplored and regretted the outbreak of additional Israel-Jordan border friction, he did not at the moment see any direct relation of this development to the Suez Canal crisis.
Mr. Dulles was asked at his press conference if the new happenings involving Israel and Jordan would have an adverse effect on attempts to solve the Suez Canal problem. His reply indicated belief that the two issues were independent of each other. In deploring the border developments, Mr. Dulles said they seemed to indicate non-acceptance of the peace objectives sought by United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold.
Secretary Dulles expressed the view that it was “irrelevant” whether Israel was given membership in a Suez Canal users’ association. He held that the association’s facilities would theoretically be made available to Israel even if she were not a member. He said he did not think Israel’s interests would be prejudiced by Israel being turned down for membership in the association.
In explaining why Israel could not join the association, Mr. Dulles pointed out that the Jewish State might not meet the qualifications for membership provisionally adopted These qualifications require participating nations to have had a certain volume of previous commerce through the canal. (Since Israel was barred by Egypt from canal usage, it would not have the minimum required by the users’ association.)
Secretary Dulles was asked about tankers blacklisted by Egypt for trading with Israel, with regard to his view or their right to Suez passage and of consequences if they were barred. He replied that there was no reason to think we would “shoot our way through” and spoke of “inevitable pressures” and “undesirable repercussions” that in the long run would “inexorably” prove bad for Egypt.
In general, he insisted that Egypt ultimately would not get away with its action in seizing the Canal. He predicted Egypt would ultimately lose, even in its relationship to other Arab states and spoke of the interdependence of nations in the modern world. But Mr. Dulles did not think the present Suez situation called for any drastic solution “such as going to war.”
In a prepared statement, the Secretary of State said “important business and financial interests” were thinking of big tankers “and additional pipelines which will make it possible for nations to be less dependent on the Suez Canal.” Asked if the United States might help financially on pipelines across “Israel or Turkey,” Mr. Dulles said the oil companies concerned had adequate resources to do what they deemed necessary in that respect.
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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.
