Israel and Jordan Seek to Prevent Border Clashes After 48-hour Battle in Negev

The Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission, which met here today to consider Israel’s complaints of new raids in Southern Israel by a band of irregulars, set up a special investigating sub-committee to study the affair and make recommendations for preventing the occurrence of further incidents. It was reported that this session of the joint body met in a friendly atmosphere, unlike many earlier sessions this year.

The inquiry group will proceed to the Beit Jibrin area tomorrow to view the “battle scene” where several Israeli Army trucks were mined and where Jewish patrols fought a 48-hour engagement before they forced the Arabs back across the border into Jordan. The investigating team will also visit the Arab town of Idna which was shelled by Israeli artillery in the course of the battle.

The inquiry body has also been instructed to make specific recommendations to put an end to the repeated violations of the border and to begin to put their ideas into operation. In addition, the Israeli delegation at the Mixed Armistice Commission asked for an early demarcation of the frontier in the Southern Negev in order to put an end to the possibility of violations by “error.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesman this evening announced that a new “incident” occurred in Southern Israel, with the marauders eventually retiring after an exchange of fire. In the two incidents Monday and Tuesday, Israel suffered six casualties in the landmining of the two vehicles alone.

The Arab newspaper Palastin, published in Jordan, reports that a Jordan military court in Nablus sentenced 10 Arabs to from five to 15 years imprisonment for illegally crossing the frontier into Israel. The 10 had been apprehended by Israeli patrols and returned to Jordan territory.