Israel today accused the Syrian Government of “direct and open incitement to war, contrary to the Charter of the United Nations,” against the provisions of the Israeli-Syrian armistice agreement of 1949 and in violation of “the basic principles of international law.” The charge was made in a letter to Dr. J.G. de Beus, of the Netherlands, this month’s president of the Security Council, from Ambassador Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
Mr. Comay’s letter was a reply to one addressed to Dr. de Beus last week by Syria’s Ambassador, George J. Tomeh, who denied his government’s responsibility for raids into Israel by El Fatah, the Arab terrorist group, and charged Israel with aggressive intentions. Among other claims, Syria contended that, during March and April, it had filed 220 complaints against Israel with the Syrian-Israeli Mixed Armistice Commission.
“It is unclear,” Mr. Comay wrote, “whom this statistic is meant to impress or mislead. These are routine complaints, and the Mixed Armistice Commission has a backlog of approximately 60,000 like them. It might be added that Israel complaints against Syria for the last month, April, alone total 358, some of them of grave character.”
On the other hand, Mr. Comay pointed out, Syria’s president, Dr. Nureddin al Atassi, had called for open war against Israel only 10 days ago, while Israel’s Prime Minister Levi Eshkol had reiterated his Government’s “sincere desire for peace” only last week. Mr. Comay’s letter did not call for a meeting of the Security Council on its dispute with Syria, requesting only that his letter be circulated as a Security Council document.
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