Israel rejected today Arab claims that the Gulf of Akaba was an “inland Arab waterway” and warned that Arab assertion of the right of blockade and suspension of international law under the cloak of a “state of war” claim threatened world anarchy.
Speaking at the international maritime conference here being attended by the representatives of 80-odd nations, Michael Comay, deputy director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, said that international law recognizes neither Arab waters, nor Slavic waters nor Anglo-Saxon waters. “International law, as we understand it, deals with relations between states,” he said, calling Arab claims to the Gulf of Akaba “wishful thinking.”
Mr. Comay noted that four independent states are littoral to the gulf–Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia–and this is described officially in the conference documents. Turning to Arab claims that the waterway was Arab from “time immemorial,” the Israeli noted that first mention in a historical document of the Gulf, in the Old Testament, speaks of its use by ships of King Solomon 3, 000 years ago.
The Israeli representative took special pains to point out that acceptance of the Arab claim of belligerency rights to blockade Israel’s water access was specifically barred in the United Nations Security Council resolution of September 1, 1951. He also noted that the UN Charter forbids one member being in a state of war with another.
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