Hammarskjold to Visit Israel; Differs with Ben Gurion on Issues

United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold is expected to arrive in Israel this week or next, depending on whether he goes first to Israel or to Egypt, a spokesman for the Israel Foreign Ministry said today. No date for the visit has been set, he stated.

Meanwhile it was reported here that a difference of opinion still exists between Mr. Hammarskjold and Premier David Ben Gurion over the agenda of issues they are to discuss. It was learned today that after the initial exchange of messages between the two statesmen, culminating in the Premier’s invitation to Mr. Hammarskjold to visit Israel, a second exchange has taken place. It has not resolved the original differences.

When Mr. Hammarskjold first discussed the purpose of his proposed visit, he suggested that they confer on reinstating the Israel-Egyptian armistice agreement and the stationing on Israel soil of troops of the UN Emergency Force.

Mr. Ben Gurion held to the Israeli view that prospects of peace and questions concerning freedom of navigation including Suez Canal passage be first studied. In effect this paraphrases the prime question put forth by Israel since the Sinai campaign: Is Egypt ready to surrender its claims of belligerence? Without a positive answer to this query, the Israelis feel, no progress can be made.

In February, when Mr. Hammarskjold went to Cairo to confer with President Nasser, the Israelis insisted that he put this question to Nasser and request a “yes” or “no” answer. The question was put, no reply was ever given, but in some of his reports the Secretary General implicitly defended Egyptian assertion of belligerent rights.