Acting U.N. mediator Ralph J. Bunche met this afternoon and evening with the Transjordanian and Israeli delegations following the return ##ere of Reuven Shiloah, Foreign Ministry head of the Israeli delegation, and the chief Transjordanian delegate from consultations with their respective governments, a U.N. communique stated here tonight.
Dr. Bunche’s meetings with the two delegations were conducted separately. Joint sessions are not expected at the present stage of the negotiations.
Thus far, there has been no answer to Dr. Bunche’s query to the Iraq Government as to whether Transjordan is authorized to represent it at the armistice negotiations. The mediator refused to comment on a radio report that Iraqi Prime Minister ##uri es Said today denied in the Iraqi parliament that Trans Jordan had been authorized to speak for Iraq at the Rhodes, parley.
The real block to the negotiations at present is not the Iraqi situation, but the sudden demand of the Trans Jordanians that certain specific military demands put forward by them be considered early in the talks. The demands, if agreed to, would Create a situation highly dangerous to the security and sovereignty of the Jewish state, it is understood here.
Specifically, the Arabs demand: access to the Lydda airport; access to the ##oad from Jaffa to the airport; and, the cession of Jaffa to Transjordan. Beside detracting from the general usefulness of the airport to Israel, agreement to these de-####ands would mean the stationing of a strong Arab force on Tel Aviv’s southern flank while the Arabs in the “triangle” would menace the city’s northern and eastern flanks. he Trans Jordanians have also demanded that the Israelis withdraw from the northern ##iegev or at least that the area be demilitarized.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
