Israel may proceed on her own to erect a mined fence along the Gaza Strip frontier in the event the United Nations Emergency Force, which proposed such a barrier, is unable to implement the suggestion, senior Foreign Ministry officials told the press today.
Commenting on the report by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold that UNEF troops should assist Egyptian forces in patrolling the border, these officials said that the proposal indicated that “Nasser’s onslaught on UNEF has succeeded in depriving it of all authority.”
In the light of these developments, the Israelis said, “it seems essential to us to turn to new devices to prevent incursions from Gaza.” The fence appears to be the only effective means available at present and Israel is willing to contribute labor, material and money for the barrier. All this would be unnecessary, they stressed, if Nasser would renounce belligerency claims.
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