The United States Government has protested to Egypt and Syria against the imposition of a blockade on American shipping off the Palestine coast, the state Department revealed today. It was also disclosed that the Lebanese Government has informed U.S. Minister Lowell C. Pinkerton that it will release 41 American Jews removed by force from the Marine Carp in Beirut harbor and interned at a former Syrian Army camp on condition that they return directly to the United States.
A State Department spokesman told newsmen that S. Pinckney Tuck, Ambassador to protest the proclamation of a blockade of the coast of Palestine by the governments to which they are accredited. He asserted that the U.S. could not recognize such action as valid on the basis of the traditional American policy opposed to seizure or stoppage of ships on the high seas.
In his message to the State Department, Pinkerton said that the Lebanese Government would not permit the 41 American citizens to proceed to Palestine. He added that this information is being relayed to each of the interned American citizens for their individual reaction. The Department spokesman said he could not predict whether the release of the 41 under this condition would close the case as far as the U.S. Government is concerned.
Paul Hoffman, E.R.P. administrator, today promised the Senate Appropriations Committee a full report on charges that American aid to Britain is bolstering the Arab invasion of Palestine. Under questioning by the Senate group which must approve funds for the E.R.P., Hoffman was asked by Chairman Styles Bridges to investigate charges “Which several Senators have laid before the Appropriations Committee.”
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