Jordan Told To Halt Guerrilla Raids

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31981, 7 May 1969, Page 17

Jordan Told To Halt Guerrilla Raids

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

JERUSALEM, May 6.

The Israeli Prime Minister (Mrs Golda Meir) warned the Jordanian Government yesterday to halt the Arab guerrilla raids across the borders or face reprisal.

She also told Egypt that Israel would continue to fortify the 1967 cease-fire lines since they are Israel’s “best guarantee.”

Mrs Meir spoke to the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem as Israeli troops fought a new duel across the Suez Canal with the Egyptians and as Israeli and Jordanian troops battled across their cease-fire line in three separate areas. She did not spell out the “reprisals” for Jordan but said, “If this criminal activity continues we shall not be able to absolve the Jordanian authorities from responsibility, we shall follow the principles of reciprocity along the cease-fire lines.” She said that Egypt “acts as if the cease-fire did not exist,” and Israel would continue to consolidate her defences along the cease-fire line. Egypt had claimed that Israel was trying to “annex” the east bank of the canal and said Egyptian artillery had knocked out 60 per cent of Israel’s so-called bar-Lev line there.

Egyptian sources said in Cairo that Egypt would launch a major diplomatic offensive in the next few weeks in an attempt to persuade a new French Government to continue the pro-Arab policy of President de Gaulle.

In another Middle East development United States truce authorities in Cairo and in Jerusalem discussed proposals for safeguarding the United Nations cease-fire observers along the truce line. Israel had hinted that Egypt was trying to drive the United Nations people out of the Suez Canal area. The Israeli Prime Minister, opening the political debate in the Knesset after the Passover recess, recalled King Hussein of Jordan’s address to the Washington Press Club on April 10 in which he outlined a six-point peace plan for the Middle East. She quoted an excerpt in which the King said that what he was proposing now would have been considered, in June, 1967, a dramatic concession on the part of the Arabs. Israel could not fail to recognise the generosity of this proposal, nor could anyone else throughout the world, the King had said. “We read these words in

bewilderment,” Mrs Meir said. Why had the King not made this proposal to Israel? she asked.

The answer, in her opinion, was well known. On June 1, 1967, the Arab rulers were occupied with preparing the war. hoping that they would be able to destroy Israel once and for all. She accused the King of having deliberately ignored a political fact “the historic importance of which can scarcely be over-estimated” that on June 5, 1967, he had received a message from the former Prime Minister (Mr Levi Eshkol). In this message, sent through the United Nations representative General Odd Bull, the Prime Minister had promised that if Jordan refrained from intervening, no harm would come to her.

“If he had complied with the appeal, matters would have been different,” Mrs Meir said.

The six-point plan introduced by King Hussein in Washington contained no mention of negotiations between the parties, without which no settlement could be reached, Mrs Meir said.

While Arab propaganda hailed King Hussein’s speech as a peace plan, there was not a single word in it about a peace treaty or normal relations between States, Mrs Meir continued. “I believe there is no precedent in the history of nations for the establishment of peaceful relations according to the formula of these six points,” Mrs Meir said. Referring to recent tension, the Prime Minister said that when the Big Four Powers started their talks on the Middle East, Arab leaders began and continued to pursue an intensive campaign designed to terrorise international public opinion with the threat of an all-out war that could spread outside the region. To enhance the impact of this propaganda, the regular Arab armies in the south and in the east had began to aggravate the situation on the borders by unprecendented violations of the cease-fire agreements.

Egyptian and Israeli forces exchanged fire across the Suez Canal yesterday while the Heads of State of the United Arab Republic and Jordan discussed strengthening the eastern front and promotion of Arab coordination against Israel. King Hussein and President Nasser discussed the Middle East situation for two and a

half hours, informed sources said, adding that the views of the two leaders were identical on all subjects touched on.

United Nations representatives of the four big powers were to resume their Middle East talks today after a new warning from the SecretaryGeneral (U Thant) that the situation in the area was continuing to deteriorate.

U Thant told reporters in Geneva yesterday: “If the permanent members of the Security Council do not agree on the substantive issues on the Middle East situation in the next, say, two months or so, I am afraid the situation may get out of hand.”