The new mass immigration into Israel falls” strictly within the internal jurisdiction” of the Jewish State, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold declared here today.
At the same time Mr, Hammarskjold denied that he had told Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, when the two met recently in Israel, that Israel should admit a million Arab refugees instead of a million more Jews. Such a report, he stated, “is part of the imaginative journalism into which one runs once in a while.”
The Secretary General’s assertion that the immigration is an internal matter over which Israel alone has jurisdiction came in reply to a query as to whether “the United Nations could limit immigration into Israel to quiet fears and in the interests of peace in the area. “
“I don ‘t want to enter into a matter, ” Mr. Hammarskjold replied, “which is strictly under the internal jurisdiction of a member state. It does have its legal aspects, too, however. But I don’t want to enter into a question of what the UN can do or cannot do. I leave it to debate” inside or outside the UN. I would rather leave it to debate.”
In answer to other questions, the UN chief stated:
There is no ruling that the Security Council need not consider Israeli complaints of violations of the truce agreements with the Arab states, unless such complaints were filed first with the Mixed Armistice Commission.
The “Palestine Question” remains on the agenda of the Security Council, and so does the question of repatriation of Arab refugees. United Nations decisions regarding refugees remain on the records.
Both Syria and Israel have accepted his proposals for demarcation of the Syrian-Israel frontier, “but so far, nothing has been done” in this direction.
The question of Jordanian compliance with Article VIII of its armistice agreement with Israel, granting free access to holy shrines, is a matter which he has been trying to settle “for years.” “But the ball is still up in the air, ” the Secretary General added on this point, “and I would not like to comment further at this time.”
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