Word: overflights
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Commander Jock Dalgleish, beside him as copilot, the young King flew his twin-engined de Havilland Dove, with the royal Hashemite standard painted on its stabilizer, humming high above the Syrian desert at a modest 160 m.p.h. Suddenly the Damascus radio crackled a warning that the plane had no overflight clearance, demanded the identity of its crew and passengers. The King refused and turned the controls over to Dalgleish, defying an airport order to land at Damascus...
...Blame? Jordan's airport control tower at Amman had relayed the King's flight plan-from Amman to Beirut via Syria-as required by the international aviation regulations. But had anyone also obtained the overflight clearance through diplomatic channels required before the King's plane could cross a foreign border? There was an embarrassing silence in Amman. Someone thought the flight had been cleared through U.N. Representative Pier Spinelli. In a prompt denial, Spinelli snapped: "What do you think we are, a travel bureau?" The chief of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, Lieut. Colonel Ibrahim Othman...
Apparently Ben-Gurion's government was not so much frightened by the Russian note as eager to use the overflight permission as a bargaining lever to force the U.S. and Britain into heeding Israel's feelings. There had also been other pressures on Ben-Gurion besides Russia's. Israel's best Afro-Asian friends-especially Ghana and Burma-made their disapproval clear. Two left-wing parties in Ben-Gurion's coalition were strongly against letting Israel appear too committed to the West. Furthermore, Israel has tried to avoid backing one faction or another among Arab...