Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-12

dramatic last minute effort to m
Despite the rebuff, Soviet
applied for a British visa il
Moscow to attend next Thurs
DAVIS conference.
Informed Moscow sources sale
Mr.. Shepilov would leave by
plane Tuesday for the Londor
conference to personally lead {
drive to thwart Western plan'
for internationalizing the Suel
Canal. 1t will be his first appear
ance at an international confer
aaIce since he succeeded v. M
MBlotov.
a'But Greece. to the surprise Of
the British Foreign Office, re-
fused to attend. At outs with
Britain over Cyprus, the Greeks
said that under the conditions
in. which the conference wa!
being held they would be unable
80 contribute by participation
in attempts to find a peaceful
solution"
With the world awaiting {
likely mo" from Egypt's Presi.
dent Canal Abdel NasSer tomor.
row. it thus seemed that % o.
"a invited nations will sit dowr
to the conference table in Ian.
caster House.
Col. Nasser's news conferenc,
was postponed from noon to
pp. I'll am. EDIT tomorrow
He is also scheduled to broad
cast to the nation at 6 pm. E.
pm. EDIT.
Aims to Arouse Arabs
To-day Col. Nasser declared t,
labor leaders his great objectiv
was not simply to take over tn
canal but ito arouse Arab ma
tionalism." He cited his owl
writings picturing Egypt as tn
anifying center of the Ara
world.
At the same time trade uniol
leaders in the Middle Eas
threatened a scorched earth wa
Ia their oil-rich homeland
against any Western attack OF
Egypt. They threatened to blov
up Western oil and military ia
cilities in the Middle East if
shooting war starts. These in
elude pipelines through Syria
British bases in Jordan and tn
United States Air Force base II
Wheelus, Libya.
In the midst Of these develop,
ments, British reinforcements be
gan arriving at Cyprus. The air
craft carrier Theseus reache,
Famagusta on Cyprus east coast
only $50 miles from Cairo. Tn,
carrier Ocean was due shortly
The Theseus carried about 100
paratroopers, gunners. engineer
and support troops. The Oceal
also carried troops.
6 Soviet Proposal Spurned
Earlier this week the Kremlin
in its qualification hedged &C
eeptance to the London confer
ence had proposed that it b
enlarged by the addition of 9
Communist, Arab and neutra
nations, that it be transferred
to Cairo and the date postponed
fGr at least two weeks.
-.MoscoW's note also declared
the conference was totally un
fitted to deal with Suez' future
but acknowledged that keepin.
the canal open was of interna.
tional interest and said it woulC
attend in the hope of reaching
a peaceful solution.
A British Foreign Office
spokesman said all these obiec
tlons were spurned in a repl,
sent to the Kremlin today afte,
discussions with French ant
American diplomats.
Iraq Offers to Mediate
Iaq, the only Arab nation il
Britain's anti-Communist Bagh
dad Alliance in the Middle East
was reported by informed source
In ,Baghdad to be engaged in
Secret diplomatic effort" t,
reach a peaceful solution accept
able to all.
The Ministry of Information
Of Lebanon, which has beeI
seeking Iraq's good Offices, re
ported Lebanese Minister O
State Saeb Salam carried Iraq'
r1ediation offer to Cairo today
{. I'VE all hope wisdom will pre-
vail" said Mr.. Salam.
:. Mr., Salam delivered a messag
ito Col. Nasser from Lebanes
President Camille Glamour an
urged peaceful negotiations" t