Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold said today that he discussed the problem of security in the Middle East during the high level conferences he has held in the last few weeks. He made the statement at a press conference here in answer to a question which touched by implication on his talks yesterday with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, as well as with the highest government officials in Paris and Cairo.
“Of course security in the Middle East came under consideration, ” Mr. Hammarskjold said. “However, it was not picked out for special consideration. In all these contacts, the ground was covered informally in regard to many issues. But all these issues are interrelated.”
Mr. Hammarskjold stated in reply to other questions that while in Cairo he discussed with Egyptian officials the matter of the Israeli trawler Doron which was seized by the Egyptians on the high seas late last September. That issue was among many others he discussed with officials in Cairo. However, he declined to make any specific comment about the vessel or its crew of five Israelis and one Italian who have been in an Egyptian jail since September.
Mr. Hanmarskjolu said that he has had as yet no report from his personal representative, Dr. Francisco Urrutia of Colombia, in regard to the latter’s efforts to reconcile the conflicting Israeli and Jordanian stands regarding Mt. Scopus. He denied hearing of a rumor that Col. Byron V.Leary, acting head of the UN truce organization in Palestine, would be replaced in that post.
In reply to a query whether he had any official word about the reputed plans of some governments to reinvolve the 1947 UN partition plan, he said: “I have not had any official word on that point. I only read about it in the newspapers. The stand of the parties on this agreement is well known and it is legitimate to note these stands as background in consideration of this problem.”
Mr. Hammarskjold who visited troops of the UN Emergency Force in the Gaza Strip on Christmas Day, said that he had found the morale of the troops very good and that UNEF “works very well.”
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