The Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission today accepted an Israel proposal to screen for possible re-admission to Israel more than 100 Beduin who claim they were expelled.
The Israel delegation to the MAC made the offer on condition the Beduin could prove they were Israel citizens and residents. Leading sheikhs of the Azazme tribe, to which the alleged expellees belong, will come to Israel, with United Nations observers, in an effort to show where the Beduin resided and to find ways to prove their citizenship.
The Israel offer re-emphasized the fact that Israel views Jordan’s complaints differently from those of Egypt. That country also complained several weeks ago that Beduin were expelled from Israel into Egyptian territory. Israel, which no longer recognizes the Israel-Egypt Armistice agreement, did not attend the meeting at which the Egyptian charge was made. Israel also did not take notice of the MAC decision asking re-admission of the Beduin beyond letting it be known that leaders of the tribe failed in promises to produce the killers of an Israel army officer.
(At the United Nations, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold today circulated among all members of the Security Council a letter presented to him yesterday by Yosef Tekoah, acting head of the Israel delegation, denying that the Beduin in the Egyptian territory are Israeli citizens, as Egypt asserted. Mr. Tekoah said that these Beduin normally move about in the Sinai desert and “are not Israeli citizens.” He also pointed out that they have attacked Israeli patrols and killed an Israeli officer.)
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.
