Armistice Body Censures Israel for Attack on Egyptian Airliner

In the absence of Israeli representatives, the UN Egyptian-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission today “strongly blamed” Israel for an attack by four Israeli fighter planes on an Egyptian airliner over the Gulf of Akaba on September 13. The commission called the incident a “flagrant breach” of the armistice agreement and demanded that Israel refrain in the future from any such action.

Israel has been boycotting the commission’s meetings for the last three years. Israel did not attend the last meeting, either. The UAR brought about the meetings by its claim that Israeli military planes fired on the Egyptian airliner in an attempt to force it to land on Israeli territory. The plane flew on to Cairo. Israel had denied that its planes did any shooting.