Israel’s Parley Acceptance is ‘official’; Truce Duration in Doubt

Ambassador Michael S. Comay of Israel formally transmitted to United Nations Secretary-General U Thant today Israel’s official and formal agreement to participate in a special meeting of the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission in an effort to reduce tension along the Israel-Syrian border. The Israel letter of acceptance stressed that the extraordinary meeting would be “on an agreed agenda with a view to reaching an understanding on the problems of cultivation in the area.”

Syria’s formal acceptance had been transmitted a day earlier but the Christian Science Monitor reported from Beirut that the Syrian regime had not disclosed the news to the Syrian public. Israel submitted another complaint to the Security Council last night — its sixth this month — over two border incidents and drew the Council’s attention to the statement made on Sunday by the Syrian Minister of the Interior in which he said:

“Syria has altered its strategy against Israel, and has moved over from defense to attack. Where Israel has fired a bullet, we have replied with artillery shells and tanks and the guns of our planes. Through operations carried out in recent days by the Syrian Army, we will teach Israel a lesson she will not forget. We will continue to carry on operations until she has been eliminated.”

AMBASSADOR HARMAN CONFERS WITH UNDER SECRETARY KATZENBACH

Ambassador Avraham Harman had a one-hour meeting today with Under Secretary of State Nicholas de B. Katzenbach at the State Department and said later that they had reviewed the Syrian border situation. The ambassador said he had explained the seriousness of the situation. He told reporters that “we have had 24 good hours” — a reference to the absence of new incidents on the frontier — but declined to speculate on the future.

JTA dispatches from Jerusalem quoted political circles there as attributing the relative calm on the northern frontier to two factors: U Thant’s intervention and the heavy, winter rains which have prevented cultivation of land in the disputed border zones. Many of the border incidents resulted when Syrian forces tried to prevent Israeli farmers from cultivating fields in the demilitarized zones.

United Nations observers, according to the Christian Science Monitor, were in accord with Israel political circles in doubting that Mr. Thant’s intervention would have lasting effects. Jerusalem sources, cited in JTA dispatches, pointed out that the U.N. intervention was limited to one issue; land cultivation, whereas the major, basic issue was Syria’s proclaimed intention to press further aggressions across the border. Unless Syria curbs its anti-Israel policy, it was believed in Jerusalem, the present calm would be of brief duration and the situation could easily flare up again, reaching new peaks of violence.

Dispatches from Beirut quoted Arab military observers to the effect that if Israel embarked on a retaliatory raid against Syria, it would take the form of a large airborne operation with paratroopers and infantry dropped behind Syrian lines, north of Huleh and in the Deraa area where guerrilla units were reportedly based.