The Israel Government charged today that the inability of the armistice regime to prevent such events as the massacre at Scorpion Pass and the failure of the United Nations observers to fix responsibility for the crime proved the impotence of the armistice regime and justified the Israel Government’s decision to discontinue participation in the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission.
A statement by the Government tonight warned that the outcome of the commission’s investigation of the bus ambush would be most likely to encourage aggressive and criminal elements in the Arab countries. These elements, the statement declared, would learn from this situation that they may perpetrate such outrages with impunity.
The Government statement reviewed the entire situation commencing with the bus ambush on March 17 which, it said, “bore the unmistakeable character of a military operation and was the gravest of all that had occurred within Israel territory since the termination of hostilities and the conclusion of the armistice agreements.”
The statement pointed out that the investigation, in which United Nations observers participated, proved that the trail of the murder gang came from the direction of the Jordan frontier and returned toward the frontier. “This fact, in addition to the generally clear picture of the outrage, left no room for doubt that it was perpetrated by a Jordanian force,” the statement charged.
The Israel delegation therefore lodged an official complaint with the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission and submitted a draft resolution stating that the attack had been carried out by men coming from Jordan. According to the provisions of the armistice, the statement pointed out, responsibility for the crime therefore fell on the Jordan Government.
The Jordanian delegation, the statement added, thereupon advanced the contention at the armistice commission meeting that the outrage was the work of Israelis. The statement then noted that the chairman of the commission, who represented the United Nations, “thus confronted with a choice between the versions of Jordan and Israel on the nature of the events, did not repudiate Jordan’s assertion and abstained from voting on Israel’s draft resolution which therefore was not adopted.
SAYS COMMISSION’S FAILURE CREATED “SITUATION OF UTTER GRAVITY”
“The prolonged discussion of the Israel complaint in the Mixed Armistice Commission thus terminated without decision,” the Israel statement noted. “This outcome of the consideration by the Mixed Armistice Commission and the United Nations truce supervision committee of the Maaleh Akrabim (Scorpion Pass) outrage has created a situation of utter gravity.
“Not only did the armistice regime prove incapable of preventing a wanton onslaught, but even after the occurrence, the United Nations observers did not see their way to fixing responsibility for the crime. It (the armistice regime) thereby has demonstrated its own impotence to prevent the occurrence of such monstrous deeds,” the statement declared.
“The results of the Mixed Armistice Commission’s examination is most likely to encourage aggressive and criminal elements in the Arab countries who will learn from this experience that they may carry out such outrages with impunity. Under these circumstances, the Israel Government saw no sense in continuing participation in the Mixed Armistice Commission and decided to discontinue same,” the statement concluded.
The Israel Parliament is scheduled to hold a debate tomorrow on the Scorpion Pass massacre. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee met tonight, in advance of the debate, to review the situation.
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.
