§ 95. Major Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if be will now make a full statement on the incident which occurred on 23rd September, 1948, when a civilian aircraft was shot down by a fighter and two British subjects lost their lives as a result of this attack; and what further action is contemplated by His Majesty's Government.
§ Mr. MayhewThe Acting Mediator has now made a report on this incident to the Security Council and a copy is available in the Library. Briefly, the conclusions of this report are that the Arab Airways' aircraft was three times attacked by a Jewish fighter once over Jewish-held territory and twice over Transjordan territory, on which it crashed. The Acting Mediator has allocated responsibility as follows. In his opinion the Government of Transjordan are guilty of a breach of the Truce in allowing one of their civil aircraft to fly over Jewish-held territory, although it is stated in the body of the report that the Arab Airways claim that they received oral authority to do so from one of the United Nations' observers; while the Jewish authorities are responsible for a serious breach of the Truce, as a result of unjustified attacks made by a Jewish fighter upon a Transjordan aircraft resulting in the deaths of three persons, and of the incursion upon Transjordan territory by the Jewish fighter. This report has only just been received and it has not yet been possible for His Majesty's Government to consider what if any further action may now be desirable.