Israel Offers to Let Jordan Repair Ghor Canal if Border Area is Kept Quiet

Premier Golda Meir has offered Jordan a second chance to repair the Ghor irrigation canal damaged in an Israeli air raid Sunday if the Jordanians keep the border area quiet. Mrs. Meir said in a television interview that Israel would not interfere with the repairs if the Jordan Government took effective steps to ensure that the cease fire will be observed. Two Israeli engineers reportedly made a brief visit across the cease-fire line to inspect the damage inflicted by Israeli jets on the 50-mile, $85 million canal, Jordan’s largest irrigation system.

(Jordan filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council today denouncing Israel for the attack on the Ghor Canal installations. The complaint did not ask for a meeting of the Security Council.

(The Security Council was to meet this afternoon to hear Lebanon’s complaint against Israel for the bombing of the Mount Hermon area in southern Lebanon on Monday and Israel’s counter-complaint charging the Lebanese with failure to prevent attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory.

(The New York Times said editorially today that it would be “another exercise in futility” if the Security Council limited itself to the Beirut complaint. It said “the Security Council must address itself to the Arab guerrilla initiatives as well as the Israeli reprisals. Its obligation is to call on both sides not only to restore the cease-fire of 1967 but to commence negotiations in good faith with the aid of Big Four and U.N. Intermediaries. The alternative,” it warned, “is a drift toward disaster in the Middle East.”)

Mrs. Meir’s offer was viewed as a display of good-will on the Israeli side and a tacit acknowledgement of the interest the United States has in the Ghor canal which was built with large U. S. loans and grants to Jordan. When the canal was damaged the first time, by Israeli commandos last June 23, the U. S. Government interceded with Israel to permit repairs to be made. The canal is within easy range of Israeli guns along the border. The Israel government agreed at the time and was assured that King Hussein of Jordan would see to it that the cease-fire was maintained in the area. The assurances apparently came from the U. S. which has acted as a go-between in several recent Israeli-Arab matters. The border was quiet during the two weeks that repairs were being made. But shooting started almost immediately afterwards and escalated to a point where Israel felt it necessary to retaliate and hit the canal again. Israeli sources expected another American attempt at intervention although they thought the U. S. should be skeptical of Jordanian promises.

(New York Times correspondent Dana Adams Schmidt reported from Amman today that the composition of the new cabinet announced yesterday served to emphasize Jordan’s rejection of Israeli “threats” in connection with the Ghor canal. The Israelis said they would use artillery and air power to prevent repairs on the irrigation canal unless Jordan halted attacks on Israeli settlements, Mr. Schmidt reported. He said he had his information from a source close to the palace in Amman.)

ISRAELIS STRESS HUSSEIN’S OFFER OF ‘SELF-DETERMINATION’ FOR PALESTINIAN ARABS

Israeli observers interpreted the Jordanian Government shake-up yesterday as a move to strengthen the representation of Palestinians in the government and to improve relations between the Hussein regime and the guerrilla organizations. They noted the pro-guerrilla orientation of the new premier, Bahjat el Talhouni and several other members of the new cabinet and that eight or nine of the new cabinet members are Palestinians, including two West Bank residents who had been deported by Israel for subversive activities.

Most important, according to the Israelis, was King Hussein’s statement yesterday that the new cabinet would aim at giving the Palestinians the right of self-determination, but only after they were “liberated” from the Israeli occupation. The statement was made by the King in his letter of appointment to Mr. Talhouni. The latter had served as Premier from Oct. 1967 to March, 1969. Just before he was replaced by Abdel Moneim Rifai, considered a moderate, he made a strong speech in which he said there was no more hope for a political settlement with Israel and that Jordan would never reach a settlement with Israel without the accord of the other Arab states.