Burns Inspects El Auja Area; Sharett Preparing to Come to U.S.

Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns, chief of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, who arrived here today, left immediately for the Nitzana — El Auja — demilitarized zone, scene of last week’s heaviest fighting. Meanwhile, it was revealed that Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett is preparing to leave for the United States soon.

The arrival of the truce chief and the imminent departure of the Foreign Minister served to highlight developments in the tense border situation which continues to prevail. The latest incident occurred when an Israeli patrol of four jeeps was fired on by Egyptian positions inside the Gaza strip yesterday morning. The incident occurred at Ein Hashlosha.

The only other major incident reported over the weekend, a Syrian claim to have shot down an Israel war plane, was categorically denied by a military spokesman in Tel Aviv. Earlier, an Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman branded Arab broadcasts reporting battles and the infliction of heavy casualties on Israeli forces as figments of the imagination.

The spokesman announced Israel’s readiness to cooperate fully with Gen. Burns in negotiations of the proposals of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold for lessening tension. He also cited Israel’s ready compliance with acting UN truce chief Col. Robert Hommel, when he requested a cease fire after the Nitzana clash.

In Tel Aviv, a military spokesman today announced that two houses in the settlement of Sdeh Hemmed, in Central Israel, were slightly damaged Saturday evening after Jordanian infiltrators placed explosives under them. The spokesman announced that the footprints of three men were found leading to the Jordanian border.

Earlier, Gen. Yaacov Dori, former Israel Army Chief of Staff and president of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, who now heads the special fund for the purchase of arms from Israel, announced this weekend that the fund’s goal is to collect 25 million pounds by the end of this year.