A proposal to station United Nation cease-fire observers along the Israel-Jordan demarcation line was under discussion behind closed doors today as the Security Council recessed in its second emergency session on the Middle East in the last ten days. The body remained on instant call and was expected to resume its current session tomorrow.
The call for an emergency session came from both Israel and Jordan Friday following a daylong artillery duel and air strikes along a 85 mile front. Each accused the other of having started the fighting.
The proposal for U.N. observers to stem the recurrent violence “from wherever it comes,” was made by the United States representative, Ambassador Arthur J. Goldberg, who warned that U.N. envoy Gunnar Jarring’s peace mission was in grave jeopardy. Secretary General U Thant told the 15 nation body previously that it was “practically impossible for me to report on developments” because there was “no United Nations observation in the area.”
Ambassador Goldberg said that without U.N. observer teams like those that supervise the Israel-Egyptian cease-fire line, there was nothing to prevent incidents from escalating. He said Friday’s fighting might have been prevented or have ended sooner if U.N. teams had been on the spot.
The Security Council met for over two hours yesterday. It heard Algeria, Jordan and Hungary call for adoption of enforcement measures against Israel, such as economic sanctions or a U.N. military force to compel Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories. Yakov A. Malik, of the Soviet Union, who assumes the presidency of the Security Council tomorrow for the month of April, said his country was ready to implement any measures against Israel adopted by the Security Council.
Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said that while his country was always ready to work toward peace, it would not remain passive if Jordan continued to train and arm “terrorist organizations from its territory against Israel.” “It is time Arab leaders became convinced that no war-like operations against Israel can succeed,’ he said. The Jordanian representative, Muhammah H. el-Farra, said that as long as Israeli forces occupy the West Bank of the Jordan, there would be Arab resistance.
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.
