Henry Vigier, personal deputy to acting U.N. mediator Ralph J. Bunche, and Gen. William Riley, Dr. Bunche’s chief of staff, today conferred with Israeli military and Foreign Office representatives on the Rhodes armistice parley with Transjordan and the negotiations with Lebanon.
Following the three-hour conference, the U.N. deputies proceeded to Beirut to confer with representatives of the Lebanese Government. It is understood that both of them will be present at Ras el Nakura, Israeli-Lebanese border town, tomorrow when the third Joint armistice session is scheduled to be held.
It was understood here that little progress has been made at these talks because of Syria’s unwillingness to evacuate Mishmar Hayarden. Israel has demanded that Lebanon, through whose territory alone the invaders can be supplied, force Syria to withdraw before it will agree to make any concessions. (a report from Damascus yesterday stated that Syria had accepted Dr. Bunche’s invitation to attend an armistice parley with Israel at Rhodes.)
Meanwhile, the Rhodes conference was adjourned temporarily this week-end while the respective delegations returned to their capitals for new instructions. Reuven Shilcah, civilian head of the Israeli delegation, is expected to return to Rhodes tomorrow after conferring with the Foreign Office here.
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