Israel announced officially today that its military forces this morning blew up a house in Nablus, on the West Bank of the Jordan, from which several shots had been directed at Israeli border police and at an Israeli jeep.
The announcement stated that the trajectory of the shot fired at the jeep had been traced to the house, and it was found that all the shots had come from the same building, fired by a single person. Last week, Israel blew up a house in the Gaza Strip after arms were found concealed in the dwelling.
General Moshe Dayan, Minister of Defense, reported these actions to the meeting of the Cabinet today. He also reported about the sporadic firing by Jordanians on four successive days, ending yesterday, to which Israel responded. Those shootings took place in the area of the Damiya bridge over the Jordan River.
CABINET DISCUSSES DEADLOCK ON ISSUE OF READMISSION OF ARABS
The Cabinet discussed today the issue of the Arab refugees who fled the West Bank of the Jordan River into Jordan, following Israel’s occupation of the river’s western shores. The discussion took place after Foreign Minister Abba Eban reported on the issue.
An agreement with Jordan on the return of the West Bank refugees who had fled to Jordan during the war were still deadlocked today, Foreign Ministry sources declared. The beginning of the return of those refugees had been scheduled for August 10. But the Jordanians are still refusing to distribute to the refugees the applications they must fill out because the documents bear the stamp of the Government of Israel.
Nils-Goran Gussing. Secretary-General Thant’s personal United Nations representative sent to the area to supervise humanitarian affairs, came here today from Jordan, where he had conferred with officials of the Jordanian Government. He was scheduled to open talks with Israel’s Foreign Ministry officials here tonight. His terms of reference include the return of the refugees to Israel-held territory.
It was hoped today that some compromise formula might be worked out, so that the applications could be returned to Israel by the August 10 deadline. The possibility of extending the deadline was also envisaged if the deadlock should continue.
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