Premier David Ben Gurion conferred tonight with UN truce supervisor Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns over the grave situation along the Israel-Jordan frontier, where four murderous incidents have occurred since UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold obtained Jordan agreement to a cease-fire.
Mr. Ben Gurion urged upon Gen. Burns the necessity for impressing on Jordan that it must take strict measures to end all aggression. At the same time, the Premier requested that the truce supervisor obtain Jordan’s compliance with the article of the armistice agreement which guarantees. Jews free access to the Wailing Wall, and which Jordan has never honored. The article also guarantees Israel freedom of access to Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University campus atop Mt. Scopus.
Meanwhile, the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission today adopted a resolution blaming Israel for the fact that an Israeli patrol fired across the Israel-Jordan border last Sunday. The incident occurred during a day when Jordanian troops fired on Israeli settlers in the fields, trucks on a highway and a train on its tracks, all in the Kfar Saba area near the border.
The Israeli delegation was so indignant at “such a travesty of justice” by the MAC, that it refused to submit its own resolution calling for condemnation of Jordan for firing on Israeli personnel and property. The Israelis protested that adoption of their resolution which was assured would make for a “false equalization of blame and only confuse the clear responsibility of Jordan” in this incident. They insisted that the commission must draw a distinction between firing in aggression and firing in defense.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.