Secretary of State William P. Rogers was asked by the U.S. Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) to consider taking steps to suspend Israeli commercial air service to and from the U.S. unless Israel promises not to repeat interception of an Arab airliner. In its message to Rogers, ALPA stated that Israel should give assurance “to the international aviation community that illegal acts such as those engaged in last Saturday against an Iraqi commercial airliner over Lebanese airspace will not occur again.” The interception actually occurred Friday night.
The letter to Rogers followed action by the Canadian Airline Pilots Association which yesterday urged the Canadian government to bar flights to Canada by Israeli commercial airliners if Israel did not immediately guarantee that it would “never again” conduct or condone interference with civilian flights.
The ALPA letter to Rogers also stated that if Israeli assurances are not “forthcoming, the U.S. government should consider the possibility of suspending commercial air services by Israeli aircraft, to and from the U.S., until they are obtained.” The letter added that the Administration should consider developing a similar policy to deal with any future violations of international civil aviation law by any country.
There is some indication that the action by ALPA and CALPA will provide additional fuel to the movement generated yesterday by the Security Council resolution which called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to consider the Council’s condemnation of Israel and warning that such acts should not be repeated. The ICAO general assembly is due to meet Aug. 28 in Rome.
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