Five Arab Legionnaires were killed and three others were wounded early this morning when a detachment of Jordan troops invaded Israel territory near Mevoot Beitar. Israel has protested the incident and has called for an emergency meeting of the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission.
The incident is viewed seriously here because it is the first eruption of violence on this scale along the border in several months. The Legionnaires, who penetrated several hundred yards inside Israel, were repulsed by an Israel police patrol which they attempted to attack. Only one Israeli was wounded.
United Nations observers, sent to the scene after Israel’s complaint, removed the wounded to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. While they were on the scene, new fighting broke out nearby and two more Legionnaires were wounded and removed by the UN officers to the Hadassah Hospital.
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.