CAIRO, Sept. 3, 1956 (UP) --Government newspapers warned today that the West is committing suicide in the Middle East because of its demand that the Suez Canal be put under international control. The warning came as President Gamal Abdel Nasser told the nation it faces the threat of war with Britain and France. He said he was willing to accept any solution to the Suez crisis except internationalization.
He added that he would not take the problem to the United Nations because he fears the UN power of veto and "we were always disappointed with the United Nations Assembly."
"The West is still using the age-old imperialist methods of pressure and terrorism," government papers said. "Egypt is very stubborn. And behind Egypt there are one million Arabs and behind those, 150 million Asians and Africans. The West is committing suicide in this area because it refuses to understand these people."
The statement was published as a five-nation committee began talks with Nasser. The group, headed by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, presented an American plan for international control of the canal, which Nasser nationalized.
The plan was adopted by an 18-nation conference in London.
Menzies was grim as he entered the talks. He told reporters "We are not just playing a game. This is tremendously serious. The world is in quite a dangerous situation over the Suez Canal."
Nasser, in speaking to the nation, gave little hope that the committee would solve the problem.
He said he regarded the talks as merely "a discussion" and not as negotiations.
"They have the initiative and I haven't," Nasser said. " I will just listen."
Nasser again declared his willingness to sign a treaty guaranteeing freedom of navigation of the canal.
"I am not a man threatening the world," Nasser said. " I am a man facing a threat."
Nasser said that "nobody in the world is willing to go to war, but we would defend ourselves if attacked."
He said Egypt wanted "to reach a solution and we feel that the solution must be reached by negotiation."
Sources close to the Egyptian government said Nasser is determined to stand fast on his nationalization of the canal. The sources said that the Anglo-French "saber rattling" will have no effect on Nasser's firm rejection of any form of international control "whatever the consequences."
These sources said Nasser is banking heavily on the support Egypt has received in the controversy from Arab, Asian and the Communist nations.
They believed that the most powerful deterrent to British and French military action was Soviet Communist Party Boss Nikita S. Khrushchev's statement that in the event of war over Suez "the Arabs will not stand alone."
