Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold late this afternoon gave the General Assembly a special report on his discussions yesterday with Israel’s delegate Abba Eban. In his report, Mr. Hammarskjold declared that as far as the Akaba problem is concerned:
1. The United Nations Emergency Force is to be used at Sharm el Sheikh for “the prevention of possible acts of belligerency” by Egypt. However, this promise is “subject to the qualification that UNEF is never to be used in such a way as to force a solution of any controversial political or legal problem.”
2. Israel requested assurance that, before UNEF is withdrawn from the Sharm el Sheikh area with or without Egyptian assistance, the Secretary General would notify the General Assembly. Mr. Hammarskjold’s reply was that be would notify his own advisory committee on UNEF and the committee would have to decide whether to bring the matter to the attention of the Assembly.
3. On the question of a UN naval unit in the Gulf of Akaba, Mr. Hammarskjold said that establishment of such a unit would be beyond his “competence.”
As to the Gaza Strip, the Secretary General declared that “Egypt is given the right to control the Gaza Strip by the armistice agreement. This being binding on the Secretariat, the Secretary General’s concentration has been on arrangements to secure peace and quiet in the area–always on the assumption of the Egyptian legal position.”
Mr. Hammarskjold informed Israel that in the light of its stand on Gaza “it may be seriously doubted that the question of Akaba can be solved separately, as intended by Israel’s approach.
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