Arab charges that Israel was massing troops in the Jerusalem area to attack Jordan were ridiculed here today as “nonsense” by a spokesman for the Israel Government. They were also denied by United Nations truce headquarters here.
A. UN spokesman said that headquarters had received no reports of Israel troop movements from its observers in the field. He further denied that truce chief Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns was returning from Cairo to deal with any “situation.” In fact, he pointed out, Gen. Burns has delayed his return from Egypt where he went to discuss resumption of meetings of the Israel-Egyptian Mixed Armistice Commission and other security matters.
Gen. Burns is “unperturbed” by the situation which “has not changed since his meeting with Premier Ben Gurion last week,” the spokesman noted. An Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman said the real cause of Arab jumpiness was the presence of Iraq army forces on Jordan’s northern frontier. Egypt, he declared, simply was trying to attract attention to the presence of these forces, which Israeli sources said were put there to forestall any possible Egyptian coup in the forthcoming Jordan election.
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