Ben Gurion Demands Israel’s Full Armistice Rights on Mt. Scopus

Israel insists on its full rights under the general armistice agreement, particularly the guarantee of access to the Holy Places and to the cultural and educational institutions on Mt. Scopus, and will press for those rights when United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s representative returns to Jerusalem in June, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion declared today in the Knesset.

Replying to a Herut motion for a debate on the recent Mt. Scopus affray, Mr. Ben Gurion said that the issue had been raised when Dr. Ralph Bunche, Under Secretary of the UN, made his recent hurried visit to the Middle East. The Prime Minister cited Article Eight of the Armistice Agreement in reference to the issue of access to the isolated Israel sector behind the Jordanian lines.

He hinted that Dr. Bunche’s visit had been a response to the Prime Minister’s warning at a Hebrew University ceremony April 27 that Israel would act on its own to implement Article Eight if Jordan persisted in disregarding its pledges under that Article.

Jacob Meridor, the Herut deputy who put the motion, said the situation was intolerable and asked how long the Government would countenance “violations, attacks and bloodshed” and what the Government proposed to do about the shooting affray Monday in which Lt. Col, George A. Flint, chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission, and four Israel police were killed.

Mr. Ben Gurion reviewed the representations made to Secretary General Hammarskjold, to his personal representative, Dr. Francisco Urrutia of Colombia, and subsequently to Dr. Bunche. He said one of the three was expected here in June and that at that time a definite reply would be sought. The Prime Minister won overwhelming Knesset approval of his proposal that the issue be submitted to the Knesset Committee for Security and Foreign Affairs, rather than to open debate in Knesset at the present time.