Knut Hammarskjold, secretary general of the International Air Transport Association, proposed today an international inquiry commission on the downing of the Libyan airliner. Hammarskjold, who is due in Israel tomorrow, made the proposal in a cable to Mordechai Ben Ari, general director of El Al and a member of IATA. Hammarskjold also suggested an international conference to discuss, means of preventing such tragedies in the future, a conference based on the findings of the proposed international investigation.
Two Israeli captains of the Israeli Pilots Association, Itzhak Shaked and Shimon Ash, left for London today to attend an extraordinary session of the International Federation of Pilots Associations (IFALPA) which has on its agenda proposals to boycott flights to Israel in retaliation for the downing of the Libyan Boeing.
Olaf Fursberg of Finland, IFALPA president, arrived here today, in an unexpected visit, as captain of a Finnish airliner on charter flight to Israel. He conferred with Israeli pilots. During refueling of the charter plane, he said IFALPA views with extreme gravity the crash of the Libyan plane.
He was given a full account of what happened but he persisted-in-saying, “I cannot understand how it is possible to fire on a civilian plane.” He indicated that the European pilots groups, specially those of Britain and France, were demanding sanctions against Israel. Aviation sources here expressed the view that Israel would be strongly condemned but that no sanctions would be imposed.
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.
