Tekoah Accuses Egypt of Distortion of Facts and Malice in Complaints to UN

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah of Israel, charged today, in a letter to Secretary-General U Thant, that the Egyptian Government, in communications to the United Nations, was continuing to “distort the facts and to propagate malicious interpretations of the Israel Government’s policies.” The envoy’s letter was in answer to various charges made by Egypt of alleged Israeli wrongdoing in the occupied territories. Mr. Tekoah asked that his reply be circulated to the members of the Security Council. The Israeli ambassador told the Secretary-General that “the recurring charges advanced by the permanent representative of the United Arab Republic can be understood only in the context of his Government’s policy of continued belligerency” and of “wilful distortion” of the meaning of the Security Council resolution of last November.

Ambassador Tekoah stressed that the Israel Government was responsible for the public administration and maintenance of law and order in the areas within the cease-fire lines. “It is my Government’s policy to do all that is necessary and possible in order to ensure normal civilian life in these areas.” He said administrative measures recently adopted in the occupied areas “have no political significance and are aimed solely at facilitating and legalizing existing practices of freedom of movement and trade.”

In another letter to the Secretary-General, Ambassador Tekoah replied to a Jordanian charge that Rouhi Al-Kateeb, whom it called the “mayor of Jerusalem, had been arbitrarily deported.” Mr. Tekoah said that Al-Khateeb was a Jordanian national and an appointee of the Jordanian Government who “had been an agent for that government in promoting tensions and public unrest behind the cease-fire lines between Jordan and Israel.”