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U.S. Ponders Participation of Israel in U. N. Debate on Suez Issue

October 3, 1956
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The manner and form desired by the United States for the presentation of Israel’s views during the United Nations Security Council discussion of the Suez Canal issue–which is to start this Friday–has not yet been decided by the State Department, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told his press conference here today.

Mr. Dulles made it clear, however, that he certainly thought Israel’s case, because of Egyptian denial of Israel maritime rights under the 1888 international pact on passage of ships through the Suez Canal, would come to the attention of the Security Council in some manner. He indicated he was not inclined to favor Israel’s “full participation” in the Security Council debate.

The question of Israel’s joining in the Security Council discussions on the Suez issue, Mr. Dulles told the press conference, may come up again this week after being adjourned for a decision last week. He added that the question must be handled with care to prevent “everybody” from coming into the Security Council’s consideration of the Suez crisis. State Department sources later said that by “everybody” Secretary Dulles referred to Arab states hostile to Israel.

Newsweek, widely-read weekly magazine, today reported that Britain is putting “sharp pressure” on Israel not to raise the question of Egypt’s blockade of Israeli shipping issue at this week’s Security Council debate on Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal. “The British fear this would cost the backing of Iraq and Jordan, whose support, open or under cover, is considered vital to the Wests cause,” Newsweek said.

The same publication reported that the United States has come to a “firm decision” to force the fall of Col. Nasser, the Egyptian President, as soon as some kind of a Suez solution is patched. “The weapons used against Nasser,” Newsweek says, “will be mostly economic: the State Department will stop asking Congress for Egyptian cotton quotas; aid will be withdrawn; and Israel’s perennial request for arms will get a warm reception.”

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