Syrian gun posts across Israel’s northern frontier. near the Sea of Galilee, attacked Israeli field workers in the fields near the settlement of Korazim three times today, killing one Israeli and damaging a tractor. Israel returned the fire each time.
The attacks were mounted only 24 hours after United Nations military observers had ruled that the Israeli farmers at work in the fields near Korazim were on Israeli territory, and not, as the Syrians contended, in the demilitarized zone between the two countries.
Syria used recoilless guns, 120-millimeter mortars and machineguns in their attacks, while Israel replied with mortar fire and tank-mounted guns. The victim was fatally wounded in the first of the three attacks.
U.N. military observers arranged a cease-fire after the second of the attacks, but the Syrians violated that arrangement until Israel’s guns silenced the Syrian positions. Except for the one Israeli farmer, there were no other casualties on the Israeli side. When the shooting was over, the farmers outside Korazim returned to their work in the fields.
The chairman of the United Nations Syrian-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission upheld today the complaint of Israel that a tractor the Syrians fired on earlier this month was working inside Israel territory. The findings of the chairman called Syria’s attention to the conclusion that the firing “constituted a serious breach of the armistice agreement.”
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.
