Israel will not attend tomorrow’s scheduled meeting of the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission, because the chairman of the United Nations body has placed on the agenda a request by Syria for discussing the status of the demilitarized zone, Avraham Biran, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Armistice Affairs division, declared today.
Reiterating earlier statements to the effect that Israel is ready to meet the Syrians “at any time, any place,” to discuss peace or talk about the restoration of quiet along the frontier, Mr. Biran declared that this attitude holds only “as long as nothing is raised pertaining to the demilitarized zone, west of the boundary line.”
Maintenance of the demilitarized zone, Mr. Biran stated, is “Israel’s prerogative exclusively.” This right, he said, was reaffirmed by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in 1951. and “Syria has no standing in the matter.” Col. Raymond Pirlot, of Belgium, UN chairman of the Israeli-Syrian MAC, “precluded Israel’s attendance,” Mr, Biran held, by placing the Syrian item on the agenda of tomorrows scheduled meeting.
(United Arab Republic President Gamal Abdel Nasser arrived in Damascus, capital of Syria, today, and will personally inspect the Syrian-Israeli frontier where fighting took place in the last three weeks.)
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