U.N. Again Appeals To Egypt And Israel To Keep Peace

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27678, 7 June 1955, Page 11

U.N. Again Appeals To Egypt And Israel To Keep Peace

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 6. United Nations officials said last night that the Secretary-General, Mr Dag Hammarskjold, had sent a new appeal to Egypt and Israel to refrain from committing any acts that would increase tension in the Middle East. The Secretary-General’s letter was described as a general expression of concern over recent border clashes in the Gaza area. The Egyptian Prime Minister, Lieutenant-Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, has proposed the creation of a demilitarised zone in the Gaza border area to ease the tension between Egypt and Israel. According to a statement today by Lieutenant-Colonel Salah Gohar, Director of Palestine Affairs at the Egyptian War Ministry, Colonel Nasser made the proposal during recent talks with Major-General Edeson Burns, the United Nations chief truce observer. Colonel Nasser offered to withdraw the Egyptian army half a mile from the present truce line provided the Israelis did the same.

A t message from Gaza itself says that Egyptian Army headquarters said tonight that Egyptian forces had repulsed a fresh Israeli attack over the Gaza border during the day. The Egyptians said that two halftrack /irmoured cars and four lorries advanced to the truce line 60 miles east of Gaza and opened machine-gun fire on,two Egyptian outposts.

One outpost returned the fire. At the same time, Israeli forces bombed two other Egyptian outposts with 120 mm. mortars and shelled them with 25-pounder guns. There were no Egyptian casualties.