Jordan Troops Fire on Israel’s Border Police; Second Attack in Two Days

An Israeli border police car was attacked in the region opposite Tulkarem in central Palestine in the wake of Jordanian troops wounding three Israeli policemen in the Jerusalem vicinity yesterday. There were no casualties in today’s burst of fire from the Jordanian side of the border.

The more serious incident, the wounding of three Israeli policemen in the Mt. Scopus area, has both political and military overtones. Until more is learned, Israeli authorities are reserving judgment whether the affair was local in nature or was a deliberate provocation on instructions from Amman.

The Israeli policemen were hit while advancing on a party of Arab farmers plowing a field in Israeli territory. The area was originally claimed by Israel and is so marked on maps accepted in the armistice agreements. Later Jordan laid claim to it but has made no move to implement the claim. Yesterday’s plowing party may have been just that and in this possibility lies the significance, according to Israeli sources.

The incident held another surprise. The Jordanians, who for years have accused the Israelis of militarizing the Mt. Scopus region, suddenly revealed the existence of a military position on the demilitarized height. Yesterday’s ambushing fire from the Jordan lines came from the vicinity of the August Victoria Hospital, theoretically to be used only for refugee women in need of medical treatment.

Meanwhile, both Syrian and Israeli sources reported violence in northeastern Israel, with the Israelis announcing that four civilian workers from the Ashmoret settlement on the shores of Lake Huleh were fired on yesterday. In a communique issued at Damascus, the Syrian Army charged that an Israeli patrol crossed the demilitarized zone and fired at an Arab village.