Israel protested today to Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns, chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, against Syria’s decision to try four surviving members of a five-man Israel military patrol captured by the Syrians last December and imprisoned since then. The fifth member of the patrol, Pvt. Uri Ilan, committed suicide last week in a solitary confinement cell of a prison in Damascus.
Lt, Col, Arieh Shalev, Israel delegate to the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission, met with Gen, Burns to press for an emergency session of the MAC to enforce the decision of the MAC that the Israel soldiers be classified as prisoners of war and released immediately. As for trying the men, Col. Shalev said, this would be a violation of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war. The convention only permits their trial if they were captured in civilian clothes or if they attempted to break out of detention.
The UN chairman of the MAC, Col. J. Costanguay, has not acted on the Israel demand for an emergency meeting, pointing but that Syrian opposition has prevented his carrying out an investigation of the conditions under which the men are being held.
OPPOSES RESTRICTION OF ISRAEL’S RIGHTS IN DEMILITARIZED ZONE
In Jerusalem, Dr. Walter Eytan, director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, informed Gen, Burns today that Israel will oppose any restriction of her rights in the demilitarized zone on the Israel-Syrian frontier, Gen, Burns had recommended a sharing of administrative control in the zone, which lies entirely within Israel territory.
Dr. Eytan pointed out that under the terms of the armistice agreement Israel has attempted to develop the economic resources of the demilitarized zone, but that in 1949 and 1950 Syria took political and military action to prevent such development. Dr. Eytan took issue with Gen. Burns’ suggestion that the problem could be solved by a partition of the demilitarized zone.
He termed “unwarranted” Gen. Burns’ statement that the principal reason why the MAC’s authority is unoperative in the zone is because Israel claims sovereignty and polices parts of the area, Dr. Eytan said that no matter what interpretation is placed on the passages of the armistice pact outlining Israel’s rights and status in the zone, it was “clear beyond a doubt” that the agreement confers no rights on Syria in respect to that zone.
Two Jewish tractor operators were found murdered today in fields adjoining the Ajour settlement, south of Jerusalem. The murders occurred near Mevoot Beitar, scene of many recent clashes between Jordanian infiltrees and Israelis. Tracks from the scene of the killings lead to the Jordanian frontier. UN observers are now on the scene. The dead men were identified as Zvi Eidmann and Eliezer Katz, both formerly of Argentina.
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