Call in Experts to Help Clear Oil Slicks on Sea of Galilee from Destroyed Pipeline

Israel Port Authority experts on oil pollution were called on by the Government today to help clear oil slicks that still cover nearly eight miles of waters near the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. The oil poured into the fresh-water lake after Arab terrorists blew up a segment of the 1,000 mile Arabian-American (Aramco) oil pipeline in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights last Friday.

A specially prepared spongy material made from rubber is being used to clear the oil in some places with good results. More experiments will be made in the next few days. Officials said it was hoped that the waters would be completely cleared of oil.

(Israeli leaders show little eagerness for the resumption of the oil flow through the Aramco pipeline which is of economic benefit only to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, Christian Science Monitor correspondent Francis Ofner reported from Tel Aviv today. He said Israel would demand strict conditions before permanent repairs are allowed on the damaged section of line in the Golan Heights.

“Israel’s conditions for resuming the oil flow, it is understood, are less concerned with the question of royalties for transit than with guarantees that preventive measures be taken against possible future sabotage,” according to Mr. Ofner. “By what technical means this should be achieved whether by increasing the number of safety turncocks, by putting the entire Israeli stretch of the pipeline underground or by other devices– is open to negotiation,” he wrote. “The Israeli Government has no strong views so far about the question of where these negotiations would be conducted: through the American Embassy in Israel, or through the Israeli Embassy in the United States, Israel’s conditions may be formalized as soon as (the owner) asks for a permanent repair to replace the present temporary corking of the pipeline gap,” the correspondent said.)