U. N. Members Seek Clarification on Hammarskjold’s Middle East Plan

Clarification of the plan on the Middle East proposed last Friday by United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold to the special emergency session of the UN General Assembly was sought by UN members here today. Mr. Hammarskjold’s proposed plan calls on the Arab states to pledge non-aggression and non-interference in each other’s affairs, but does not call for Arab non-aggression against Israel.

Ambassador Abba Eban, head of the Israel delegation to the United Nations, conferred on Friday separately with Henry Cabot Lodge, head of the American delegation, and with Sir Pierson Dixon, head of the British delegation, prior to the opening of the Assembly session. It is understood that the Israel envoy sought to make sure exactly how and in what context Israel would fit in, in whatever program may develop as a result of the agenda before the General Assembly.

Members of the Israeli delegation indicated that Mr. Eban’s talks with the head of the United States and British delegations were “satisfactory.” It is assumed that Mr. Eban also wanted to make certain that Israel is not placed in a position in which plans for overall Middle East solutions would leave Israel out of the picture.

The discussion on Mr. Hammarskjold’s plan will start Wednesday at the General Assembly. In his address at the opening session of the Assembly, at which he proposed his “peace plan,” Mr. Hammarskjold carefully avoided mentioning Israel, stating only that the UN forces stationed between Egypt and Israel helped to maintain quiet in that area and have worked out in a way which “may be a source of satisfaction to all members of the United Nations.”