Jordan’s policies, which find expression in the publicly proclaimed view that Jordan is in a state of war with Israel is the basis for the gravity of the present situation, the Israel Government said today in a reply to a report on border conditions made to the Security Council by Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns, U.N. truce observance chief in Palestine.
In a letter to Gen. Burns, Dr. Walter Eytan, director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, noted receipt of a copy of the Burns report sent to Premier Moshe Sharett, and pointed out that Mr. Sharett was unable to comment on it since Israel had not been a party to the investigations on which the report was based.
Under the circumstances, the letter advised, Mr. Sharett was bound to regard the report as incomplete since all its evidence had been taken from Jordanian witnesses with a natural interest in widely exaggerating the developments being investigated. Mr. Sharett could have wished, the letter added, that the report place incidents in a more correct perspective.
In his report, Gen. Burns had condemned the Israelis for an alleged retaliatory raid on the village of Beit Liqya, in the Latrun area, and had warned that retaliation was contrary to the armistice agreement and a “dangerous remedy.” Dr. Eytan told Gen. Burns that “the memory of the massacre of Maale Akrabim is still fresh in the minds of our people.” He reminded Gen. Burns of a whole series of Jordanian raids on Israel in recent months which were “unprovoked acts of murder.” It was clear in each case, he said, that the murderers came from Jordan,” yet there was no indication that the Jordan Government made any attempt to trace, let alone apprehend or punish them.”
The letter invited Gen. Burns to undertake a study of the conditions prevailing along the frontier and promised to make available to him all pertinent data and to afford him facilities for the fullest possible understanding of the situation. Meanwhile, the letter suggested that Gen. Burns seek to obtain Jordan’s agreement to respect the demarcation lines and abandon “its illegitimate policies and acts of violence.”
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