1,300 Egyptian and Israeli Complaints Settled by U. N. Body

More than 1,300 complaints and counter-complaints by Israel and Egypt, some of them dating back to 1952, were settled today without voting by the Israel-Egyptian Mixed Armistice Commission, at a meeting which took place at Auja.

The meeting rejected an Egyptian interpretation of the armistice agreement on civilians crossing the demarcation lines. Lt. Col. Bertholdy, United Nations chairman of the commission, joined the Israeli representatives in voting that such crossing by civilians constitutes a violation of the armistice pact.

The Jordan-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission, in an emergency meeting yesterday, determined that Israel “flagrantly” violated the Jordan-Israel armistice agreement in an incident during the night of July 31. On that date, the Commission held, a unit of armed Israelis penetrated about five kilometers into Jordanian territory at Jenin, and there carried out “a well-planned attack,” resulting in the killing of one Jordanian guard, the wounding of a Jordanian policeman, and the abduction of another Jordanian policeman.

The resolution adopted by the Commission requested the chief of staff of the UN truce supervision organization to demand from the Israel authorities the immediate return of the abducted policeman. The resolution also called on Israel authorities “to prevent such and other acts of aggression, and to respect the armistice agreement in the future.”

At the same meeting, the Commission adopted another resolution, dealing

with an incident on June 29, when, according to the commission’s findings, Israelis shelled the Jordanian village of Beit Awa, south of Jerusalem, damaging some houses. This second resolution also declared Israel to have violated the armistice agreement, and called upon Israel to avoid hostile acts in the future.

Both resolutions were passed with the Jordanian delegation and the MAC chairman voting in favor. The Israeli delegation remained absent from the meeting.