Egypt has the “exclusive” right to the administration of the Gaza Strip, and the United Nations Emergency Force has “the duty to assist” in the enforcement of Egyptian regulations to prevent fedayeen raids into Israel, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold announced here today.
Mr. Hammarskjold buttressed his announcement, interpreted here as the major “accomplishment” of his initiations in Cairo with Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, by referring to his own previous statements in which he had agreed that Egypt’s right to the Gaza administration is “exclusive.”
He declared that the government of Egypt had advised him that it is informing Arab refugees in the Gaza Strip “that it is Egyptian policy to prevent infiltration across the demarcation line.” Nasser’s government also told the Secretary General that “the Egyptian regulations against infiltration, which include penalties, are being again put into force.”
The role of UNEF “in assisting in the prevention of infiltration will be made clearly known to the population of the Gaza Strip by the appropriate authorities, “according to Egypt’s promise to Mr. Hammarskjold.
In case these arrangements don’t work out, Mr. Hammarskjold said, his UNEF Advisory Committee will have to reconsider the issue. Israel has demanded that the Secretary General obtain from Egypt a declaration of non-belligerence. Today’s statement indicates that he has received no such pledge from Nasser.
Mr. Hammarskjold issued his statement immediately before he was to hold his first conference, since his return from Cairo, with Abba Eban, Israel’s delegation chairman here.
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