Premier David Ben Gurion today told the Israel Parliamentary Security and Foreign Affairs Committee that Israel will take the necessary measures to repel the planned infiltration of her territory by marauding bands of Arabs.
Reporting to the committee on the security situation, the Premier charged that organized bands from the neighboring Arab countries infiltrate Israel, according to plan, to rob and murder. The Premier also dealt with foreign affairs. Among other matters, the committee considered forthcoming changes in the United Nations truce supervision machinery resulting from the resignation of its chief, Gen. William E. Riley.
Yesterday, Mr. Ben Gurion and Gen. Riley conferred on the situation along Israel’s entire frontier. Gen. Riley, who has served with the UN in Palestine since 1948 when he came as military aide of UN mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche, is scheduled to surrender his post May 15.
An Israel military spokesman announced that Jordan troops have been taking up new positions at the Augusta Victoria hospice above the Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus, in clear violation of the Israel-Jordan armistice agreement. Israeli authorities immediately protested to the Mixed Armistice Commission against the Arab Legion movement in the demilitarized zone.
Meanwhile, the commission today held an “informal” meeting at which it was decided to hold a joint investigation of last week’s two-hour exchange of rifle fire between Israeli and Arab Legion troops in Jerusalem, in an attempt to assess responsibility for it. The Jordan representatives on the commission, however, with held formal approval of the inquiry pending consultation with the Jordan Government.
(Egypt and Iraq yesterday submitted protests to the United Nations against alleged Israeli provocation of the two-hour gun battle between Israel and Jordan troops in Jerusalem last week. The Arab states charged that the Israelis had deliberately fired at the Arabs without provocation. The exchange of fire, in which four Israelis were wounded and nine Arabs were killed, was started when an Arab Legion sniper on the walls of the Old City fired into new Jerusalem and wounded an Israeli civilian.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
