Speaking from the floor of the Senate, Senator Charles II, Percy, Illinois Republican, called attention today to Syria’s threats against Israel and emphasized the dangers inherent in the Syrian terrorist acts on the Israel border. Tracing the difficulties on the Syrian-Israel frontier, he charged the Syrians with “unprovoked violence” which he termed “unpardonable.”
The Illinois Senator accused Syria of failing to cooperate with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization and with refusing to discuss “without any preconditions the single point on the agenda to which it had agreed.” He pointed out that “at every stage Israel has reiterated its readiness to discuss the point immediately.”
Reports reaching Washington today said that the Nasser-backed “Flosy” front movement for the “liberation” of South Arabia announced in Aden that when it came to power after the departure of the British armed forces from the Aden protectorate, it “will certainly close” the Southern entrance to the Red Sea (the Eilat route) to Israeli shipping. The Western end of the protectorate commands the narrow channel between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The announcement was made by the secretary-general of Flosy, Abdul Qawee Mackawee, former Chief Minister of the Aden protectorate. He said “our policy will be hostile to Britain, the United States and Israel alike.” Flosy is the leading terrorist movement in Adon and the adjoining sheikhdoms which form the British-protected South Arabian federations. Britain has announced its intention to pull out.
Today’s strong expression surprised U.S. officials who have maintained informal contacts with Flosy in hopes of preventing it from moving in an extreme anti-Western course. Mackawee described Israel as “a pawn of Western imperialism” in announcing the intention to block Israeli transit of the Red Sea.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
