Israel Offers Soviets Inspection to Give Lie to Troop Massing Report

Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, has invited Michael Bodrov, Ambassador to this country from the Soviet Union, to tour freely throughout the country and ascertain for himself the fact that nowhere are there “troop concentrations” in any way threatening an invasion of Jordan.

Mrs. Meir made that suggestion to the Moscow Ambassador a few days ago, it was learned today, when she summoned him to her office to protest Moscow’s press and radio propaganda which has been conducting an offensive against Israel, accusing the government here of mobilizing troops for an invasion of Jordan.

Premier David Ben Gurion and Mrs. Meir appeared before the Parliamentary Security and Foreign Affairs Committee to complete today a foreign policy review began last week. Among the subjects on which they were questioned closely was the most recent Syrian firings at Huleh reclamation workers and the dramatic Syrian Air Force attack on King Hussein’s plane. One of the Israeli deputies asked the Premier and Mrs. Meir whether Israel would allow the Jordan monarch to fly over its territory en route to a vacation abroad. He was told that his question was “hypothetical. “

(From London it was reported today that Israel had apparently given permission for British jet fighters to cross its airspace en route to reinforce British air units in Jordan.)

Meanwhile, political observers here viewed the Syrian attempt to blast King Hussein’s plane out of the skies a grave blow to United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s efforts to create the impression that Middle East tensions have eased. The incident also was regarded here as destructive to Mr. Hammarskjold’s efforts to revive the Arab League, through which President Nasser of the UAR was generally believed here as hoping to achieve the dominance of the Arab world which he has so far failed to win by more direct tactics.