Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-18
lsraeIi-Arab tension
Rises After Massacre
OF II Jews in Desert
" the Assoeia.sd Press

~ the ASSoeIoteo Fross
TEL AVN, Israel, Mar. l8.-
Tension gripped the border
areas Of Israel and her Arab
neighbors today as Israeli in
vestigators and United Nations
observers probed the reported
Negev desert massacre of II
Jews by gang Of Arabs yes
terday.
Newspapers in Beirut. Leb-
anon, carried dispatches from
Jordan. reporting that Israeli
troops were concentrating on
the Jordan border. The dis
patches said the Jordan gov
eminent has taken immediate
security measures" Travellers
from Syria reaching Beirut
reported q steady stream of
Syrian military vehicles were
moving southwark. presum-
ably to assist Jordan If neces-
sary.l
Israeli Prime Minister Moshe
Sharett met with Israel army
and government chiefs at Beer
sheba, in the Negev, while the
o.. N. observers moved out to
lonely Scorpion Pass for their
on-the-spot check into the at
tack.
An Israel army spokesman
said investigation showed that
the unidentified attackers came
from the direction of the Jordan
border IL miles to the east.
Attention Of U. N. Called.
Sources close to the Foreign
ONCE said Israeli ambassadors
in Washington. London and
Paris have been instructed to
draw the attention of the West
ern powers to the incident. The
Israeli delegation to the United
Nations also will submit a note
to the Security Council chair
man for distribution among the
members of the council. the
source said.
The Israel government filed an
oficial complaint with the U. N
sponsored. Israel-Jordan mixed
armlStice commission set up to
supervise the cease-fire line be-
tween this country and her Arab
neighbor.
The government denounced
the attack as a "warlike act"
and a massacre" Only four
persons on the bus survived. in
GLIDING a womand and child who
"played dead" to escape close
range machinegun fire from the
attackers. The two other sur
vivors were part Of the four-man
soldier escort travelling on the
bus to protect the passengers.
One survivor said the attack
ing band numbered about, 10
men.
Bus Careens Into Ditch.
The Israeli report said the
Arabs. dressed in khaki with red
belts, fired at the bus as it twist
ed up the hairpin turns of Scor-
pion Pass on its way to Beer
sheba from Elath, the Israeli
seaport on the Gulf Of Aqaba,
which leads into the Red Sea.
The driver was killed instantly
and the bus careened to a halt
In q ditch. f-
The Arabs then boarded the
bus and tommygunned the rest
Of the passengers. The four sur
vivors were picked up by an
Israeli army command car and
taken to Beersheba. IS miles
south Of Jerusalem.
The government issued a COM
muniQue expressing "revulsion
and horror at the murderous at
tack by an organized Arab force
which was carried out as a mill
tary operation"
The government promised ito
take all necessary measures
within its power to insure that
the blood of its citizens will not
be shed with impunity."
Worst Outbreak Since Kibya.
The narrow Negev Desert, ly-
ing between the frontiers of
Egypt and Jordan, has been the
scene Of many incidents between
the Arabs and Jews since an UNI
easy armistice ended the 1913
Palestine war. Scorpion Pass,
winding up 1900 feet through
rocky hills, is go miles north of
Elath.
The attack was the worst out
break Of violence on the Israeli
borders since raiding Israelis
killed So Arabs in the Jordan
village Of Kibya last October IA.
The U. N. Security Council CEN
sured Israel for that attack de-
spite the Jewish nations protests
that resulted from repeated Jor-
dan raids across the border.
At Israel's demand, U. N. Sec
rotary General Dag Hammarsk-
jold has called a Jordan Israeli
conference on border problems
but Jordan has refused to at
tend.