A study which concludes that Egypt’s blockade of the Suez Canal runs counter to its obligations arising from international conventions and practices and the Egyptian-Israel armistice agreement, as well as its obligations as a member of the United Nations, was presented today by the Lawyers Committee on Blockades to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., head of the United States delegation to the United Nations and president of the Security Council for June.
According to Haim Margalith, chairman of the Committee on Treaties of the Consular Law Society, who is heading the Lawyers Committee on Blockades, the study was initiated shortly after the Security Council, in the summer of 1951, devoted several weeks to a thorough discussion of the problems involved. The Committee’s conclusions are based on its analysis of these problems from a legal point of view.
The sponsoring committee is composed primarily of members of the New York Bar who are interested in the field of international law and in the work of the United Nations. A number of distinguished international lawyers, jurists and professors of law served on an advisory panel for the study. In its detailed analysis of the blockade, the Lawyers’ Committee stated:
“1. Egypt’s interference with the passage of goods through the Suez Canal runs counter: (a.) The Suez Canal Convention of 1888; (b.) The Egyptian-Israel General Armistice Agreement; (c.) The Charter of the United Nations; (d.) Decisions of Organs of the United Nations.
“2. The failure of members of the United Nations to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council, as required by Article 25 of the Charter, can only lead to a weakening of the Organization as an instrument for the preservation of peace.
“3. The situation described in the present study calls for action to reduce tension in the Middle East and to prevent a threat to the peace from developing in that area.
“4. Termination of the blockade of the Suez Canal would constitute a step toward peace in which Egypt itself has made its interest known, and which is vital for the welfare of its own people as well as for the welfare of the peoples of the entire region.”
The memorandum asks that “In the event an early settlement of the controversy is not reached, and Egypt persists in interfering with the passage of goods through the Suez Canal, appropriate steps ought to be taken by the Security Council with a view to implementing its resolution of September 1, 1951.”
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.
