Tekoah Asks Thant Again to Obtain Affirmation by Iraq of Cease-fire Acceptance

Israel repeated today its request to Secretary-General U Thant to obtain affirmation from the Iraqi Government, in light of its stationing of Iraqi troops in Syria, that it accepts the Security Council’s cease-fire resolutions and that they will be respected by all Iraqi forces. The request, contained in a letter from Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, was the second since March 18 when Israel called Mr. Thant’s attention to reports that Iraqi forces had entered Syria.

Mr. Tekoah addressed another letter today on the same subject to Padma Bahadur Khatri of Nepal, this month’s Security Council president. It noted that the Iraqi Government had confirmed its intention of waging war against Israel by regular armed forces and by terror warfare. Mr. Tekoah cited an April 2 interview in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet in which Iraq’s President stated that “Iraq has rejected the Nov. 22, 1967 resolution of the Security Council on the Middle East” and declared that “Israel has been established against the Arabs and should definitely be annihilated.”

Mr. Tekoah’s letter stated that “the Government of Iraq, which is sending units of its armed forces into other countries in furtherance of this policy, as well as those governments which permit and even encourage the maintenance of the Iraqi expeditionary force in their territory, despite the refusal of the Iraqi Government to accept the cease-fire without prevarication, bear full responsibility for the consequent aggravation of the situation.”

In his letter to Mr. Thant, the Israeli envoy noted that the Secretary-General had informed him on March 27 that the UN had received assurances from “competent Syrian authorities that no Iraqi troops have moved into Syria.” However, on April 1, 1969, Mr. Tekoah wrote, “the acting permanent representative of Iraq addressed a letter to the president of the Security Council…in which he confirms that Iraqi armed forces have entered Syria and are still stationed there.”