The Suez Canal between Cairo and London

The events of the month of September were marked by a series of international and Arab meetings to find a just solution to the problem of the Suez Canal. Following the first London Conference came the five-member Menzies mission to Cairo, which negotiated with President Gamal Abdel Nasser over the plan of the twelve powers to establish an international administration to supervise navigation in the Canal. But the committee returned to London, after ten days of talks with the Egyptian side, without any result. In truth, it carried back with it to the British capital nothing but bitter disappointment for the three Western powers, which hastened to convene a second conference in the British capital. Its fortune was no better than its predecessor's, for differences of viewpoint appeared, and the solutions grew so tangled that the French minister Pineau was moved to voice reservations toward every plan approved by the conference powers that did not satisfy the interests of the French government.

And over what was the dis-agreement at the second London Conference? The answer to this question lies ready in the new plan put forward by the American Secretary of State, Mr. Dulles, concerning the establishment of a cooperative association of Suez Canal users. Then the American Secretary himself soon turned to deviating from it a little, which opened the way for Pakistan and

other Asian and European states sympathetic to the Egyptian cause to wage an opposition of a new kind that turned the situation upside down and, in effect, steered Spain, Iran, Turkey, and others toward a new direction: they now demanded, along with approval of the plan, that the Suez question be referred to the United Nations or to the International Security Council. And thus the conference was condemned to failure; whereupon Britain and France submitted a request to the International Security Council to hold an emergency session at which the problem of prob-lems would be considered: the Suez Canal.

Observers of the United States' Position on the Suez Question

Observers of the United States' position on the Suez question — and they are trustworthy — ask: will the Security Council succeed in finding a reasonable settlement that satisfies Egypt on the one hand and her Western adversaries on the other? Over the answer to this question there hovers the word "veto," which has begun preparing to take up its post on the lips of the Soviet Union's delegate to the International Security Council. And these observers add: the United States, it would appear, is not in earnest about settling the dispute over the Suez Canal. Had she wished to clear the air and dispel the indifference arising from the statements of her responsible leaders, she would have answered, with at least some hint, the threat of Russia, People's

China, and the states friendly to the Communists to intervene militarily on Egypt's behalf. On the whole, diplomatic observers in America, Britain, and France believe that the United States will do nothing decisive before the coming presidential elections in November 1956. In any case, America's position after that will be nothing more than courtesy toward her allies in the West, and an overture, tinged with self-interest, toward the states of the Middle East.

The Suez Canal in the Arab Sphere

After consultations and contacts among the Arab governments, the Political Committee of the League of Arab States held a meeting in Cairo following the last London Conference, in which it affirmed the position of the Arabs, governments and peoples alike, in supporting Egypt in her struggle for her sovereignty and her dig-nity in the face of the Suez Canal problem. Immediately upon the close of its meetings it also issued a communiqué with explicit reso-lutions declaring the solidarity of the Arab states with sister Egypt to the very end. Nor did matters stop at the meeting of the Political Committee of the Arab League and the broadcasting of its resolu-tions. For President Chamoun

had paid a visit to Amman, where he met with His Majesty King Hussein and deliberated with him on the present Arab situation and the common interests of the two countries in the light of current international events. Following this visit came a surprise