Col. Bennet de Ridder, Acting United Nations Truce Chief, and Dr. Walter Eytan, director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, today conferred on the possibility of reactivating the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission on the basis of a four-point program worked out earlier this week between Col. de Ridder and the chief Israeli representative on the Commission.
At the same time, Col. de Ridder placed before the Israeli official three proposals set forth by the Syrians as prerequisites for reviving the armistice commission. They were: 1. Israel must make compensation for the damage wrought in last week’s aerial bombing of Syrian positions; 2. Israel authorities must return to the demilitarized zone some 680 Arabs who were transferred to prevent their aiding the Syrians; 3. All drainage work in the Huleh region must cease.
United Nations circles expressed surprise at the Syrian demands, but also felt that there was a possibility of arriving at a compromise. Meanwhile, the situation in the Huleh region remains unchanged, with reclamation work continuing. Syrian claims of having shot down an Israeli plans yesterday were denied today by a military spokesman here.
Following his talk with Dr. Eytan, Col. de Ridder left for Damascus to discuss the results with Syrian officials. He will return to Israel as soon as he has obtained the reaction of the Arab leaders. An Israeli spokesman, describing the meeting between Dr. Eytan and Col. de Ridder, said that it was friendly and that the two men had also considered the problem of a new U.N. chairman of the armistice commission, the present officer being unacceptable to Israel.
The four-point program which had been agreed upon by Col. de Ridder and Col. Shaul Ramati, chief Israeli delegate to the mixed group, at a conference Tuesday evening on the Israeli-Lebanese border, provide, that all military forces be withdrawn from the demilitarized zone on the Israeli-Syrian border; that all shooting in the area cease; that U.N. observers be permitted to carry on their work; and that both sides reaffirm the responsibility of the U.N. chairman of the commission to implement provisions of the armistice pact calling for a return to “normal life” in the demilitarized zone.
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