Bloody Frontier

The saw-toothed border that runs from the Sea of Galilee southward to the Dead Sea, separating Israel from Jordan, is perhaps the most troubled border in the world. Each day, with brutal monotony, half a dozen people die there.

Since the Palestine "armistice" of April 3, 1949, the almost ritualistic routine of daily raiding and killing has provided full-time work for peacemakers of the U.N.'s Mixed Armistice Commission. Refugee Arabs raid across the border to pluck a few oranges from groves that had been taken from them, or to liberate a few cattle or some lengths of irrigation pipe from the Israeli side. The Israelis raid back in force to shoot up the Arabs. Local commanders sometimes smooth over incidents; other times the MAC has to move in for an investigation, then fitful peace returns.

Attack at Night. Last month the violence spread beyond the usual pattern. The Israelis demanded that Jordan return three Israeli soldiers and one civilian who had driven into Jordan. If they were not released, Israel warned, "responsibility for whatever happens will be Jordan's."

Jordan refused, so on the night of Jan. 23, two well-armed Israeli platoons (50 men)' crossed 1,200 yards into Jordan. They illuminated the quiet village of Falama with Very lights, then pounded it with Browning machine-gun fire and hand grenades for 90 minutes before Jordanian national guardsmen forced them to withdraw, leaving one uniformed Israeli dead. Six nights later, Israeli units hit Falama again. They blew open its protective barbed wire and clobbered it with mortars for almost three hours in one of the biggest attacks since the war's end. Ten Arabs were wounded and the village muktar (headman) killed. In violation of the armistice, the Israelis then began sending warplanes over Jordan, followed a few days later with the seizure of a vacated Arab college in no man's land. MAC officers who tried to investigate were obstructed by the Israelis.

Tough Talk. Last week the U.S., fearful that even the sometime-peace was now about to blow up, stepped into the picture. In Tel Aviv, U.S. Ambassador Monnett B. Davis, a quiet, methodical career diplomat of the old school, handed Israel a note that was diplomatic but plain. The U.S., it said, is deeply concerned over the recent Israeli forays over the border, and it could only conclude that they are inspired by calculated Israeli policy. A similar but much milder note of caution was handed to the Jordanians.

It was the toughest the U.S. had talked to Israel since the war--and it worked. The Israeli government, strongly dependent on U.S. good will and support, kept the note a top secret. But within 24 hours the Israelis evacuated the Arab college and halted the illegal air sorties over Jordan.

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