News Brief

Two Nobel Prize winners and a dozen other American scientists at the National Institutes of Health went to the headquarters of the American Red Cross this afternoon to elicit its support for an exchange of prisoners of the Arab-Israeli war. In the group were Christian Anfinsen, who last year became a Nobel Laureate for his discovery of protein structures. Marshall Nirenberg, who was honored in 1968 for his genetic code findings, and DeWitt Stetten, director of the General Medical Sciences at NIH. Jack Cohen, a biophysicist who arranged the visit, said that its purpose was to ask the American Red Cross to exercise its influence through the International Red Cross and other appropriate agencies to persuade Egypt and Syria “to abide by the accepted norms of civilized conduct in warfare.”

The Israelis, Dr. Cohen said, have acted according to the Geneva Convention but Egypt and Syria have not. According to the Oct. 22 cease-fire arrangement, he said, exchange of POWs would be an “indispensable condition” and that was presumably accepted by Egypt and Syria. “We now know too.” he said of instances of mutilation of Israeli prisoners by Syrians. Israelis, he said, were killed with their hands tied and several of them were decapitated. “If Egypt and Syria fall to abide by the accepted norms of civilized conduct in war and the cease-fire breaks down.” Dr. Cohen said, “the blame for suffering on both sides will rest squarely upon them.” Yesterday the Red Cross headquarters was the focus for a rally sponsored by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington. Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman of the Washington Hebrew Congregation told his audience of about 500 that the POW issue was a top priority.