Israel Reiterates “unconditional Acceptance” of U. N. Proposals

Israel has “explicitly affirmed its unconditional acceptance” of the pacification proposals made by United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold to ease tensions in the Nitzana (EI Auja) area where Israeli-Egyptian clashes occurred recently. Egypt, on the other hand, has taken “a stand tantamount to rejection.”

These points were reiterated today by Walter Eytan, director-general of the Israel Foreign Ministry, in a conference with Maj. Gen. E. L. M. Burns, chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization here. Before the Eytan-Burns conference, a Foreign Ministry spokesman took issue with the wording of a communique on the subject issued by Burns’ office yesterday.

“The facts,” said the Israel spokesman, “are in no way modified” by Gen. Burns’ latest statement. “Nevertheless, the communique from Gen. Burns is at pains to try to show that Israel has not accepted Mr. Hammarskjold’s proposals while Egypt is being assured that it has really not rejected them. The communique reflects a remarkable and anomalous situation. Whoever drafted that communique for Gen. Burns has certainly not helped his efforts to secure agreement by both parties. Israel at no time made any conditions for the implementation of the Hammarskjold proposals. Nor is there any warrant for the Burns communique’s assertion that Israel’s statement of the facts ‘complicates negotiations.”

Burns met yesterday with Egypt’s war ministry’s chief of armistice affairs, Col. Salah Gohar, discussing with the Cairo official the Hammarskjold pacification proposals for the Nitzana-E1 Auja area; exchange of prisoners between Israel and Arab countries; as well as improvement of communications between Burns’ headquarters and Cairo.