A French priest kidnapped by Syrian troops from Israel territory Friday was released yesterday following a sharp Israeli protest to the United Nations truce supervisory machinery, it was announced here today.
The priest, Father Pierre Guichau, who was visiting Israel, was captured by Syrian soldiers in the Lake Kinnereth region near the point where the Israeli, Syrian and Jordan boundaries meet, He was blindfolded and led inside the Syrian lines where he was kept until the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission, to which Israel protested, secured his release.
An Israel Government spokesman today warned the Syrians against any attempt to change the present Israel-Syrian border arrangement by force. Commenting on a report from Da mascus that Syria wants a slice of Israeli territory along the eastern banks of Lake Tiberias, the spokesman said that the present armistice agreements could not be changed unilaterally. In the event the Syrians try to change the situation by force, he added, the “Israel Army, which always knew how to repulse attackers, will use its full force to foil Syrian ambitions.”
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