Israel stands to gain if Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns, chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine, comes here in person to report about the Gaza incident which last week cost about 45 Israeli and Egyptian lives.
That was the opinion here today despite the criticism aimed at Israel in the Security Council Friday. James J. Wadsworth, speaking for the United States, set the tone at Friday’s council meeting when he referred to the Gaza incident as “indefensible from any standpoint,” but suggested that final judgment be held up pending Gen. Burns’ appearance here to report on the Gaza affair. Nine other Council members supported the American viewpoint; the Soviet Union’s delegate sat silent throughout the meeting.
Israel, in a statement issued by a delegation spokesman after the Council meeting, expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Council had treated the entire Gaza matter. One delegate after another spoke as if everything had been peaceful in the Gaza strip until Israel committed an aggression. All of the delegates who spoke, assumed–and some said outright–that a “prima facie” case had been established of Israel’s guilt in Gaza.
But, by agreeing that Gen. Burns should come here, if he can be spared from his job by the situation in the area, the delegates opened the way for consideration of Israel’s complaint against Egypt–an item which, otherwise, would rest at the bottom of the Council agenda without debate.
If Gen. Burns should come here, Israel will be able to interrogate him, once he had made his report to the Security Council. Israel, then, could elicit from him an admission of certain facts–for instance, that the Gaza clash came only after the UN’s own Mixed Armistice Commission had condemned Egypt of aggression 27 times within recent months.
Abba S. Eban, Israel’s delegate to the UN, never received an opportunity to speak Friday, since the Council session was adjourned after ten Council members spoke and then decided to await Gen. Burns’ report.
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