Egyptian soldiers arrested 28 members of a United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Cabinet delegation and others accompanying them today when their sightseeing bus accidentally entered Egyptian-held territory near Ismailia, about ten kilometers from the east bank of the Suez Canal. The incident occurred at about noon local time. Nine hours later the group was still in Egyptian custody. Israel has demanded their immediate release. A spokesman for the United Nations Emergency Force said in Jerusalem that the bus and its occupants will be returned to Israel tonight.
Earlier it was reported that the joint Israeli-Egyptian-UNEF team supervising the Israeli-Egyptian disengagement were advised of the occurrence and were making efforts to get the detainees returned. The disengagement accord provides for the return of anyone who unintentionally strays beyond UN lines. (The State Department said in Washington this afternoon that it was “hopeful for an early release” of the group.)
The UJA Young Leadership Cabinet members arrived in Israel only yesterday. The group comprised 60 members, including wives. The men left early this morning on a sightseeing tour of the Sinai battle front where women are not permitted, and the wives were taken on tours inside Israel. The bus carried, in addition to the 28 UJA leaders, an Israeli army escort, press photographers and other civilians described as guests–a party of about 40 persons altogether.
When the bus reached the westernmost Israeli outpost in Sinai, facing the Egyptian Second Army, the visitors stopped to take pictures near a UNEF check post. The bus driver discovered that the road at that point was too narrow to turn his vehicle around. UN soldiers suggested that he enter their zone for a short distance to a point where a U-turn was possible without bogging down in the sand dunes that line the road.
PROTESTS BY UN. ISRAEL IGNORED
The bus was permitted to pass the UN roadblock, proceeded for about 1000 meters and was making its turn when Egyptian soldiers appeared and captured the entire party at gun-point. They ignored protests by the Israeli military escort and the UN people at the near by checkpoint. When Israeli authorities received news of the incident they contacted the tripartite team and demanded the immediate release of the bus and its passengers. There was no response from Egyptian authorities and several hours later the Israelis repeated their demand.
Meanwhile, tension mounted at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, headquarters of the UJA mission, when the wives returned from their tour and learned of the incident. Instructions were issued not to provide a list of the UJA people on the bus. Women asked by reporters if their husbands were on the bus replied, “no comment” or “no names please.” Army officers were in touch with the group at the hotel throughout the night but were unable to report progress in obtaining the release of the detainees.
(A State Department spokesman said in Washington today that the matter was in the hands of the joint Israeli-Egyptian-UNEF team. He said reports from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv were sketchy but Embassy officials are believed to be participating in efforts to secure the release of the group as is the U.S. interests section in Cairo. The U.S. has no embassy in Cairo but Ambassador-designate Herman Eilts is there awaiting a formal diplomatic exchange between the U.S. and Egypt.)
(A UJA spokesman in New York told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that the mission currently visiting Israel was headed by Howard Stone, of New Jersey, director of the UJA Young Leadership Cabinet. He could not say whether Stone was one of those on the bus.)
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.
