Israel viewed with utmost gravity today the recurrent shooting incidents on the Jordanian border, in which four Israeli border policemen have been injured in less than a month. One member of an Israeli patrol was seriously wounded while touring the Israeli enclave stop Mount Scopus last night; Jordanians fired at a Mount Zion patrol, without injuring anyone, on Friday; and three Israeli patrolmen were wounded in a clash on Mount Scopus nearly a month ago. In two of the incidents Israel returned the Jordanian fire.
After a conference last night with Mordechai Kidron, head of the armistice affairs division of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lt. Gen. Odd Bull, chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, announced today he will go to Jordan’s capital of Amman tomorrow. It is understood that, in Amman, Gen. Bull will confer, among others, with the Jordanian Minister of Defense.
Meanwhile, it was understood here that the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, may convene a special session to review what officials here see as a “radical change in Jordan’s border policy.”
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol conferred here last night after the latest incident, with Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, chief of staff of Israel’s defense forces. Two hours later, United States Ambassador Walworth Barbour came to Mr. Eshkol’s office. Unless Jordanian authorities realize the gravity of the situation and take steps to halt the shootings, it was pointed out here, a serious deterioration of the border situation between Jordan and Israel may result.
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