The British Government evaded a direct reply today to suggestions that it initiate international action to ensure passage for all shipping through the Suez Canal.
To Conservative M.P. Patrick Maitland, who called for British moves to ensure that all existing facilities be available to all ships passing through the Canal, Minister of State Selwyn Lloyd recalled that Britain, with France and the United States had taken the initiative in bringing the question of the Egyptian blockade of Israel to the Security Council in 1951 and added that “the Israel Government has now raised the matter again in the Security Council and it is being debated at the present time.”
Mr. Lloyd also advised a Laborite speaker who called for the denial of arms to Egypt that supply of arms to Egypt from the United Kingdom had been suspended “for a considerable time.”
Arming of the Arab States continued to be a subject of interest here. Commenting on the Saudi Arabian rejection of an American offer of free arms, the Manchester Guardian said today that this was a “setback” to State Department plans “for strengthening the military organization of friendly Arab States.”
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.
