The significance of Egypt’s blockade of the Sues Canal against Israeli shipping, as pointed up in the recent confiscation of a cargo of kosher meat destined for Israel, should be more closely considered by the nations of the world, the Manchester Guardian declared in an editorial today.
The newspaper stressed the fact that Israel protested the same issue two years ago and that the United Nations Security Council at that time ordered Egypt to halt such illegal blockading actions. It emphasized that Egypt’s refusal to heed the Council has meaning for other nations. It warned that if this violation of international law were permitted other nations with whom Egypt had quarrels could also be barred from use of the vital Sues waterway.
The Manchester Guardian reviewed the history of the Canal, noting that the first article of the Constantinople Convention, which, defined international rights in the Suez Canal, stated that “the Canal shall never be subjected to the right of blockade.” It also stated that this principle of no blockade has been recognized in peace and war and as late as 1947 by an Egyptian Premier who told the Security Council that the Canal was an “international artery open to all nations in time of peace and in time of war.”
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.
