Foreign Ministry sources, citing safety considerations, have confirmed that Israel had rejected a request by United Nations cease-fire teams for freedom of unaccompanied movement in the Suez Canal region. UN observers are stationed on both sides of the canal.
The sources said that when UN observers want to travel from their observation posts on cease-fire duty, their Israeli liaison officer goes with them. The sources explained that Israel could not take responsibility for the safety and lives of the UN observers unless they were accompanied on such trips by someone who knew the language for the area and the passwords.
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.
