Issue Date: November 09, 1955 Middle East: New Violence in El Auja; Other Developments • Nasser Rejects Ben-Gurion Bid • UN Drafts Truce Plan • 'Ike' Asks Mid-East Peace • Eden Offers Mediation • Knesset Confirms Ben-Gurion • USSR to Sell Oil to Israel The most severe Israeli-Arab fighting since the 1949 armistice broke out at the strategic El Sabha post in the El Auja-Nizana demilitarized frontier zone during the night of November 2-3. The post had been claimed by both Israel and Egypt. The Egyptians said the post changed hands twice during the night, and both sides claimed they were in control of it November 3. The Israelis said they had killed 50 Egyptians and captured 40; the Egyptians said 70 of their men were killed or missing. An Israeli spokesman denied an Egyptian claim of 200 Israeli dead. Mortar and artillery fire continued through to November 4, but a UN official said "nothing serious happened." [See 1955 World News: Sharett Appeals to Molotov; Other Developments] (Israeli and Egyptian forces also clashed along the Gaza Strip border November 4 and 5, but no casualties were reported. An Israeli Army spokesman November 5 denied knowledge of an Israeli plane which was reported by Lebanon to have crashed in Lebanese territory after being shot down by Syrian forces.) [See 1955 World News: Sharett Appeals to Molotov; Other Developments] Nasser Rejects Ben-Gurion Bid Egyptian Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser told a New York Times reporter in Cairo November 3 that Israel's forces "attacked ours, thus determining the answer" to Israeli Premier-designate David Ben-Gurion, who had asked November 2 for Israeli-Arab negotiations. [See 1955 World News: Sharett Appeals to Molotov; Other Developments] Nasser said: "Hardly 10 hours passed since he [Ben-Gurion] posed to the world as a peace-loving man before he ordered his troops to march on El Sabha inside Egyptian territory." UN Drafts Truce Plan In New York November 3, UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold expressed "grave concern" to Israel over its action in the outbreak. He submitted truce proposals to both sides without disclosing them publicly. The proposals were submitted after Hammarskjold conferred with representatives of the U.S., Britain and France and with UN truce chief Major General Edson L. M. Burns of Canada, who then returned to Jerusalem. [See 1955 World News: Sharett Appeals to Molotov; Other Developments] U.S. Assistant State Secretary George V. Allen conferred separately in Washington November 5 with Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban and Egyptian Ambassador Ahmed Hussein, both of whom assured Allen that their respective countries had no aggressive plans. A State Department statement issued after the talks deplored the recent "resort to force for the settlement of disputes" and declared that the U.S. "strongly supports the UN's efforts to achieve settlement by peaceful means, especially the current proposals of General Burns." The State Department noted reports that UN observers under Burns had been "prevented from carrying out their assigned functions." The U.S. asked that these observers "have full liberty to perform their peaceful functions." 'Ike' Asks Mid-East Peace U.S. State Undersecretary Herbert Hoover Jr., at a press conference in Denver November 9, read a statement on the Middle East by President Eisenhower. It said "recent developments have made it...imperative that a settlement be found." The statement reaffirmed support for the UN's truce efforts, which had "already contributed so markedly to minimize violence in the area." "I hope that other nations of the world will cooperate in this endeavor, thereby contributing significantly to world peace," it continued. Recent hostilities "inevitably retard our search for world peace. Insecurity in one region is bound to affect the world as a whole." The statement said: "While we continue willing to consider requests for arms needed for legitimate self- defense, we do not intend to contribute to an arms competition in the Near East because we do not think such a race would be in the true interest of any of the participants." The U.S.-British-French declaration of May 1950 "still remains our policy." (It was reported in Washington November 7 that the U.S. had decided to sell Israel "significant" quantities of arms.) Eden Offers Mediation An offer to mediate was made November 9 by British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, who said he and his Government "are available to render any service" in bringing the Israelis and Arabs to an agreement. Speaking before the annual Lord Mayor's banquet in London, Eden said "the stark truth" was that both sides "must make some compromise" if they "want to win a peace which is in both their interests." Eden noted that the Arabs "take their stand on the 1947 and other UN resolutions.... They say they would be willing to open discussions with Israel from that basis." The Israelis, he said, stand "on the later armistice agreement of 1949 and on the present territories which they occupy." Eden asked if the gap was "so wide that no negotiation is possible to bridge it." "If there is anything, anything that we can do to help, we would gladly do it for the sake of peace." Eden expressed regret that the USSR had injected into the "delicate" Middle East situation "a new element of danger" by delivering weapons "to one side only." "It is fantastic to pretend that this deliberate act of policy was an innocent commercial transaction." (This had been how Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov had described the Soviet sale of arms in talks with U.S. State Secretary Dulles and British Foreign Minister Macmillan outside the formal Big 4 meetings in Geneva.) Eden said the Russians "must have known well enough in advance what the effect...of these large quantities of arms must be." He said the Soviet-bloc arms deals had "brought a sharp increase of tension with very dangerous possibilities." Knesset Confirms Ben-Gurion The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) confirmed David Ben-Gurion as Premier by a 73-32 vote November 3. Ben-Gurion's 5-party coalition government was the furthest left in Israeli history.* [See 1955 World News: Sharett Appeals to Molotov; Other Developments] Ben-Gurion conferred with UN truce chief Burns in Jerusalem November 9 and said Israel's "aim is peace, not suicide." "If our rights are violated by acts of violence, we reserve our freedom of action." Burns was scheduled to fly to Cairo November 10. * Ben-Gurion retained the Defense portfolio and outgoing Premier Moshe Sharett remained as Foreign Minister. Other Mapai Party ministers: Levi Eshkol (Finance); Mrs. Golda Myerson (Labor); Behor Shitreet (Police); Salman Aranne (Education); Peretz Naphtali (without portfolio); Kaddish Looz (Agriculture); and Pinhas Saphir (Commerce). Progressive Party: Pinhas Rosen (Justice) and Moshe Kol (without portfolio). Ahdut Avoda Party: Israel Bar Yehuda (Interior) and General Moshe Carmel (Communications). Mapam Party: Mordecai Bentov (Development) and Israel Barzelai (Health). USSR to Sell Oil to Israel The Israeli Embassy in Moscow announced November 3 that the USSR had agreed to sell Israel 350,000- 400,000 tons of crude and fuel oil and to buy 15,000 tons of Israeli fruit. © 2011 Facts On File News Services
Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation: "Middle East: New Violence in El Auja; Other Developments." Facts On File World News Digest: n. pag. World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, 9 Nov. 1955. Web. 30 June 2011.