Foreign Minister Golda Meir today requested the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization chief, Col. Byron Leary, to warn Syria against further shooting and landmine incidents along the Israel-Syrian demarcation line. Mrs. Meir, who invited Col. Leary to Jerusalem to discuss the situation, noted that a number of Israeli lives had been lost in the past two weeks as a result of these attacks.
Mrs. Meir, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, asked the United Nations to “alert the Syrian authorities to the grave responsibility they bear for the incidents along the border and to alert them to the duty to take immediately all the necessary steps to halt attacks by their forces. The Foreign Minister, who insisted the Syrians are completely responsible for the situation, recalled that when UN observers asked Syria some weeks ago to end its aggression, “tranquillity prevailed for some time.”
Questioned by newsmen, the Foreign Ministry spokesman could not say whether Israel contemplates requesting a Security Council meeting on the Syrian situation, but indicated that Israel first wants to try again an approach through the UN Truce Supervision Organization. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Israelis, supported by the UN staff, refuse to permit the Mixed Armistice Commission to discuss questions relating to the demilitarized zone within Israel territory, holding that such questions are outside MAC’s jurisdiction. The Syrians, for their part, refuse to discuss any other complaints unless MAC first considers their complaints against Israeli activities in the demilitarized zone.
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