The Israel Government will gladly support the efforts of Lt. Gen. William E. Riley, U.N. truce chief, to bring about a meeting of the mired Israeli-Syrian armistice commission to settle the Huleh dispute.
A letter to this effect, written by Israel’s Ambassador Abba Eban to the U.N. Security Council, was made public here tonight. The letter points out that it would be of doubtful value to discuss at the present time the charges made by Gen. Riley against Israel in his report to the Security Council this week and that Israel reserves the right to reply to statements and assumptions in this report at a later date.
A letter also emphasizes that the Israeli delegation maintained close contact with Gen. Riley during his stay at the U.N.” Members of the delegation held regular consultations with him on all outstanding problems seeking to clarify the issues for Gen. Riley’s further discussions with the Israel Government upon his return to the Jewish state.
It was also revealed here today that Ambassador Eban wrote to Gen. Riley early this month that the drainage project in the Huleh area is held up at its most crucial point. “This means that the purpose of the project itself, affecting some 20,000 acres and the legally acquired property and concession rights of the Palestine land Development Company are at this moment being virtually annulled in deference to the property rights of the owners of six and one-half acres of land, mostly unoccupied, along the bank of the Jordan.”
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