Israel today suggested that U Thant, acting Secretary-General of the United Nations, intercede in a dispute with Jordan, over solar evaporation pans for salt on the Dead Sea shores. The proposal was made in a letter to the Security Council by Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here.
Prior to issuing a copy of a letter he had sent to the president of the Security Council, Mr. Comay conferred today with Mr. Thant. During the half-hour talk, the Israeli Ambassador made his request for the U. N. Chief’s intercession in person.
Jordan had complained to the Security Council on this issue on July 20, charging that Israel had violated the 1949 Israeli-Jordanian armistice agreement by placing salt-evaporation pans in an area coinciding with the boundary line drawn up in 1922, during the British Mandatory regime. Today’s letter by Mr. Comay was in reply to that complaint.
Ambassador Comay pointed out that Jordan had once made a complaint on the issue, back in 1954, had withdrawn the complaint in 1955, “and the location and operation of the salt pans was not contested by Jordan for six years.” Israel made it clear it could not understand why Jordan chose to make an issue of the salt pans again at this time.
Last February, Mr. Comay informed the Security Council, Israel offered to cooperate with Jordan in demarcation of the boundary line at the disputed point, so as to “enable the Government of Jordan to implement its own plans for the extraction of minerals south of the Dead Sea, and to obviate any further differences in this region.” Now, Israel stated, it would “welcome” the Secretary-General’s assistance “in expediting the agreed demarcation of the line,” adding that Israel “is convinced that this would be in the interest of both parties.”
Like Jordan’s letter of July 20, Israel’s letter did not request a meeting of the Security Council on the issue, but asked the Council president only that he circulate the note to all members of the body.
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.
