7 Senators Urge Six-month Extension of UN Mideast Forces

Seven Senators, including Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John J. Sparkman (D.Ala.), have called for a six-month extension of the UN peace-keeping forces in the Middle East. A bipartisan resolution introduced yesterday by Sen. William Brock (R.Tenn,) for the mainly conservative sponsors asks the Senate to urge the United Nations to continue UN emergency forces whose mandate to patrol the area between Israeli and Egyptian lines expires April 24, and the UN Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) whose presence in the Israeli-Syrian sector ends May 29.

A spokesman for Brock told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the resolution was agreed upon by the Senators after they learned that Syria seeks to extend the UNDOF for only two months and Egypt has agreed to a three-month extension of the UNEF. The Syrian and Egyptian proposals would mean the life of the two forces would expire virtually simultaneously.

In introducing the resolution, Brock told the Senate the UN forces will not guarantee peace but “we can be guaranteed increased tension, if not war, if the UN forces are removed.” He recalled that the Six-Day War erupted after Egypt demanded the removal of the UN forces.

“In the past, the forces have been renewed almost automatically by the UN Security Council,” Brock said, “but the breakdown of the step-by-step diplomacy of Secretary Kissinger and the assassination of King Faisal have added confusion and uncertainty. Those factors, added to the potentially long negotiating period in Geneva, do not present a pleasant picture. The renewal of the peace-keeping forces might help to keep hostilities cool.”

In addition to Brock and Sparkman, the sponsors are Senators Howard Baker (R.Tenn.), Paul J. Fannin (R.Ariz.), Gale W. McGee (D.Wyo.), Strom Thurmond (R.S.C.) and Frank Moss (D.Utah).