HC Deb 08 April 1957 vol 568 cc83-4W
Mr. Langford-Holt

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it still remains the policy of Her Majesty's Government that the United Nations should exert the same degree of pressure to secure Egypt's compliance with the United Nations resolutions concerning free passage of shipping through the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aqaba as has been brought to bear upon Israel to secure her compliance with United Nations resolutions.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

The Security Council passed Resolutions in September. 1951, and October, 1956, calling for freedom of passage through the Suez Canal for all ships without discrimination. Egypt has nevertheless persistently denied passage to Israeli ships. There is no United Nations resolution on freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba. In Her Majesty's Government's view the Straits of Tiran, which give access to the Gulf, must be regarded as an international waterway through which the vessels of all nations have a right of passage. Ships are in fact reported to be passing freely through the Straits.

It is the aim of Her Majesty's Government that the Resolutions on freedom of passage through the Suez Canal should be fully carried out and that the influence of the United Nations should be fully exerted towards that end.