United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold will visit Israel and Egypt this month, prior to his return to the United States, it was announced here today. He intends to be in Jerusalem on the 19th and 20th of July and in Cairo the 21st and 22nd of July, the announcement said.
Mr. Hammarskjold, at a press conference in Vienna today, said he will confer with the governments concerned on ideas for making progress toward relaxation of Arab-Israel tension. He revealed his determination to submit to Israel and the Arab countries a plan for expansion and strengthening of the existing armistice agreements.
This will be Mr. Hammarskjold’s second visit to Israel and the Arab countries. On his earlier visit he succeeded in securing pledges from both camps that an unconditional cease-fire would be maintained on the frontiers. Today’s announcement of his forthcoming second visit coincides with renewed tension on the Israel-Jordan frontier as a result of yesterday’s killing of two Israeli civilians by Jordanians.
The two Israeli civilians, employes of an Israel mining company, were slain in ambush near Ein Hatzeva, a desolate settlement in the Negev desert, near the Jordanian frontier. They were murdered while traveling on the road from Eilat to Beersheba.
United Nations observers, according to information received at UN headquarters here from Jerusalem, were busy today investigating Israel’s charges against Jordan. Israel reported to the UN truce organization that seven men with rifles had attacked a truck owned by the Negev Phosphate Works in a lonely canyon, south of the Dead Sea. The two men were killed before the driver could swing his truck around and head back.
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