Israelis Welcome Boycott, Say No Requests Received About Migs

The boycott of Algerian air traffic by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations, scheduled to go into effect at midnight tonight, was welcomed here today as an important step that might bring about the release of the hijacked El Al airliner and its 12 Israeli passengers and crew members.

Officials said there had been no request from Syria or any other country about the two Soviet MIG-17 jet fighters and their Syrian pilots who inexplicably landed the two planes in Israel yesterday. The officials said no country or organization had linked the arrival of the MIGs with the El Al hijacking. They added that the fate of the El Al and the 12 detained Israeli nationals now was largely in the hands of the international organizations who have made it their concern. They noted that the airline pilots boycott was based to a large extent on self-interest because air piracy could affect the carriers of any country and because many airline firms employ pilots and crews of different nationalities.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned from reliable sources that a top-level ministerial meeting headed by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol rejected any suggestions that Israel should commit itself in advance to a “gesture” in return for release of the plane and the Israelis. The Cabinet members were understood to have taken the position that in view of the pilot boycott stand and the presence of the MIGs and Syrian pilots in Israel, there was no need for Israel to take any such action and that they reiterated Israel’s stand for immediate and unconditional release of the plane and Israelis.

It was learned today that the two Syrian pilots were on a training flight and landed in Israel because of a navigational error. They reportedly said they thought they had landed at a Syrian coastal town near the Turkish border. It was also learned that when the supersonic jets entered Israeli airspace, “appropriate” defensive measures were taken. These were not detailed.

(It was reported in Paris today from Algeria that the stand of Algerian authorities on release of the hijacked plane had hardened since the MIGs landed in Israel. But some Algerian sources reported that Algeria might exchange the El Al airliner for a return of the MIGs to Syria.)

The landing of the two MIGs at an abandoned airstrip in northern Israel remained a mystery early today. Military officials had imposed a strict blackout on news of the planes and the two Syrian officer pilots were reportedly undergoing interrogation. The planes were removed to an Air Force base, ostensibly to “protect” them from thousands of curious Israelis who jammed roads near the airstrip in efforts to see the MIG-17s.

A statement from Damascus radio that the pilots had lost their way in bad weather and were forced to land in hostile territory because of lessening fuel supplies was discounted by the fact that weather conditions in the area were excellent yesterday. The planes also were understood to have ample fuel in their wingtip reserve tanks. It was believed, unofficially at least, that the Syrian pilots had defected. Some observers said that if the pilots had been forced to land by Israeli interceptor planes, they would have been directed to an Air Force base rather than to an obscure strip near the Lebanese border where no security facilities existed. Failure of Israeli interceptors to attack obviously hostile fighter planes was considered further evidence of the defector thesis and implied that the pilots might have had prior contact with Israeli authorities. Eyewitnesses said that the Syrian pilots were carrying sidearms and that the MIGs’ cannons were loaded when the planes landed. However, a farmer who witnessed the landings said the Syrian pilots told him they were nearly out of fuel and that they had asked him whether they had landed in Lebanon.