Security Council Stalls on Anti-syrian Draft; 18th Session Today

The United Nations Security Council was scheduled today to hold its 18th session tomorrow on Israel’s complaint against Syria, charging the Damascus Government with responsibility for the El Fatah terrorist raids into Israel. Two stormy meetings were held Friday, after the United States and Britain introduced a resolution which would have linked Syria directly with the sabotage and murder expeditions into Israel, and would have requested Syria to prevent further raids of the kind. But after filibustering by the Soviet-Arab bloc, aided by some of the African members of the Council, the session was postponed until tomorrow afternoon.

Ambassador Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here, pointed out that, even while the subject of Syrian-encouraged terrorism was under discussion, more depredations were committed inside Israel. He called attention to an incident that occurred last Thursday night, when a freight train on its way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv had run over a mine, causing the derailment of several cars and the injury of one Israeli. He noted that, only an hour and a half earlier, a passenger train had run over the same tracks, and pointed out that the mine, if exploded earlier, might have caused hundreds of deaths. (Israel announced this weekend that, due to the planting of mines along the railroad tracks, it has suspended all train service on the entire run from Jerusalem to Haifa.)

The immediate objective of the filibustering during both sessions on Friday was double. The anti-Israeli group of the 15 Council members wanted to keep the Anglo-American resolution from being debated, and they wanted to stop Mr. Comay from addressing the Council again. Failing in their effort to muzzle Mr. Comay, they succeeded, however, in postponing all action on the resolution itself.