News Brief

AFRO-ASIAN BLOC SEEKS ANTI-ISRAEL ACTION, COUNCIL AT STANDSTILL

The Afro-Asian bloc continued strenuous efforts today to achieve some action against Israel either in the Security Council or the General Assembly and attempts proceeded to move the Security Council off dead-center on its suspended Middle East debate. The Council, which recessed its Middle East debate last week, has not yet met for resumption of that debate. Today, Souheil Chammas, Lebanon’s Charge d’Affairs, conferred with Secretary-General U Thant and is believed to have urged that the Security Council take some action against Israel.

Lord Caradon of Britain, president of the Council, met this morning with Corneliu Manescu, president of the General Assembly. Since the Middle East issue is on the agenda of the current Assembly session, it was believed that Lord Caradon and Mr. Manescu discussed the possibility that the Assembly might debate the Middle East issue before it concludes its current session about June 1. Mr. Manescu also had a visit from the Egyptian Ambassador, Mohamed Awad el-Kony.

Israel accused Lebanon today, in a letter to the Security Council, of having joined the rest of the hostile Arab bloc in aiding and encouraging Arab sabotage inside Israel. Ambassador Yosef Tekoah of Israel told Lord Caradon, president of the Security Council, that the Government of Lebanon had opened a recruiting office in Beirut for the enrollment of Arab terrorists and had established a training center “for Lebanese young men for joining the Fedayeen movement.” The training center, according to Mr. Tekoah, is in the Lebanese town of Sidon.

Mr. Tekoah’s letter replied to one earlier this week by the Lebanese Charge d’Affaires, who complained that Israel had shelled a Lebanese village near the Israeli border inflicting at least three civilian casualties.

Mr. Tekoah charged that Lebanon’s Prime Minister had “publicly pledged support to warfare by terror. He encouraged Lebanese nationals to join organizations conducting such warfare and promised them arms to fight Israel.” Regarding the shelling of the Lebanese village, which Mr. Tekoah said occurred as a result of the shelling of an Israeli village from the Lebanese side, Mr. Tekoah said “it is regrettable that Arab regular and irregular forces frequently choose to emplace their firing positions within or adjacent to inhabited points thus exposing the local civilian population to the hazards of Arab aggression.” Mr. Tekoah accused Lebanon of violating the cease-fire agreement and stated: “Israel has respected and will continue to respect the cease-fire with Lebanon on a basis of reciprocity. As long as no attacks are carried out from Lebanese territory, tranquility prevails in the Israel-Lebanon sector.”