Israeli workers today restored drainage operations in the Huleh area while the Israeli-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission met on the border to consult their governments. It is expected that both delegations will present to their governments suggestions for lessening the tension in the area and will receive further instructions.
When the meeting opened the Arabs immediately demanded that the commission order the Jews to reinstate the 650 Arabs evacuated from the Jewish demilitarized zone of the Huleh region. The armistice body, however, agreed with the Israeli representatives that the first matter to be considered was the Syrian firing upon Jewish workers. The Syrians then demanded that the Israelis suspend drainage operations, but the Israelis took the position that the Commission had no authority to rule on that matter.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Premier David Ben Gurion and Army Chief of Staff Yigal Yadin reported to the Parliamentary Security and Foreign Affairs Committee on the current situation in the Huleh region and outlined the position taken by the Israeli Government.
A new incident occurred in the Jerusalem area today when Arab Logion troops kidnapped three members of Kibbutz Batar. The Jews, engaged in ploughing fields near the border, asked Arab villagers on the Jordan side of the frontier if they might obtain some water at the Arabs’ well. The villagers agreed, but when the Jews came across to the well Jordan troops seized them.
As a result shots were exchanged across the border as kibbutz members attempted to rescue their comrades. United Nations observers, summoned to the area, established that the kidnapped Jews were safe.
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