Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

British Exodus from Suez May Increase Arab-israel Tension

July 19, 1954
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

Impending British withdrawal from the Suez Canal will not only create another vacuum in the Middle East, already distinguished for its lack of power, but may breed even more hostile action against Israel by Arab countries, Hanson W. Baldwin, military expert of the New York Times, warns today in an article analyzing the projected British evacuation of its Suez military bases.

“With Egyptians in sole control at Suez, undeterred by the moderating presence of British troops, the Israel-Arab friction, already at fever point, may even burst the bounds of the past,” Mr. Baldwin writes. “The thin red line of Empire may have outlived its day, but it will not be replaced in Suez without a long period of Middle Eastern instability and convulsions,” he points out.

(In London, Major Amin Shaker, top aide to the Egyptian Premier, Col. Nasser, today attempted to minimize the fear expressed in some British circles that the Egyptian Government would interfere with international traffic through the Suez Canal in the event that she gets full sovereignty over the area. Such fear is “unfounded,” Shaker said in a statement to the press.)

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement