Jerusalem Our Capital!
Ben Gurion
0
Special UN Palestine Session
Seen as 'Foregone Conclusion'
TEL AVIV. Israel Premier David Ben-Gurion, in a
declaration to the Knesset on Tuesday, stated :
"From the first days of our provisional government,
we made peace, security and the economic consolidation of
Jerusalem our principle care amidst stress of war. When
Jerusalem was under siege, we were compelled to establish
the , seat of government in the Ha-Kirya in Tel Aviv.
For the state of Israel there has always been and there
always will be only one capital—Jerusalem the Eternal.
So it was 3,000 years ago and so it will be, we believe, to
the end of time.
"As soon as the fighting stopped, we began transfer-
ring the government offices to Jerusalem and creating
conditions the capital needed for effective communications,
economic and technical arrangements. We are continuing
with the transfer of the government to Jerusalem and hope
to complete it as soon as possible.
"When the first Knesset opened in Jerusalem on Feb.
14, 1949; no adequate facilities existed for its normal func-
tioning in the capital and it was necessary to transfer its
sessions temporarily to Tel Aviv. The required arrange-
ments in Jerusalem are on the verge of completion and
there is nothing now to prevent the Knesset from returning
to Jerusalem. We propose to take a decision to this effect.
"In all these arrangements there is nothing that will
be altering in the slightest degree any existing rights to
► tl-W Holy Places which the Israel government will fully
respect, or our consent to effective supervision of the Holy
Places by the United Nations, as our delegation declared at
the General Assembly."
When Ben-Gurion ended his statetment, General Zionist
Saphir asked for immediate debate but the Premier urged its
postponement. The opposition, chiefly the Herut, backed
Saphir's .motion, but Knesset decided, 59 to 27, to postpone
debate.
•
The General Zionist parliamentary group decided to in-
troduce a bill calling for the first article in the Israel consti-
tution to declare that" the capital of Israel is Jerusalem."
The Mizrachi Central Committee and the Sephardic
Central Committee instructed their representatives in the
Israel Cabinet—Immigration Minister Moshe Shapiro and
Police Minister Behor Shitreet—to resign from the Cabinet
if the government is not transferred to Jerusalem.
if
Jerusalem Defenders Meet
Chief Rabbis Isaac Herzog
This official's views are shared
and Ben Zion Usiel cabled U. N. by a number of members of the
Secretary General Trygve Lie Trusteeship Council whose meet-
repudiating the resolution which ing opened in an atmosphere of
they termed "an assault on gloom. The Council's members
Judaism's very soul and spirit." believe that no internationali-
They predicted that this docu- zation plan can be implemented
ment, like the British White successfully.
Paper of 1939, would also "come
Speculate ( n commissioner
to naught."
Meanwhile u. S. representa-
The reaction of the people of
Israel, who were. glued to their tives made iniormal 'representa-
radio sets 'Friday night hoping tions to Israel and Jordan not
for a last minute reversal in the to take steps which might en-
UN Assembly, was one of shock, danger their re1ations with the
bitterness and disappointment. Vatican or Arab countries.
No volunteers to serve on a
In Jerusalem, the population
was grim and determined to op-. trusteeship mission to Jerusalem
to implement the Assembly
pose any imposed solution.
The Committee for the De- resolution were to be found at
fense of Jerusalem called its first Flushing Meadow or here this
meeting to decide on means for week. Some of the delegates
preventing the internationaliza- were of the opinion that Dr.
tion of the city. About a thou- Herbert V. Evatt, Australian
sand. Haganah veterans met in Minister for External Affairs
Jerusalem to commemorate the and head of the Australian dele-
second anniversary of the strug- gation to the UN, would be a
gle against Arab marauders to logical candidate for UN Com-
keep open the road between missioner to Jerusalem since his
delegation sponsored the inter-
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The meeting was addressed by nationalization resolution.
Of the twelve members of the
Col. Yigal Alon, who command-
ed the operation to open the Council, eight—Argentina, Aus-
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, and tralia, Belgium, China, France,
who is now on leave from the Iraq, the Philippines and the
army. He and other high-rank- U.S.S.R.—voted for the measure
ing Haganah veterans vowed to and will be faced -with putting
continue the fight for Jewish it into .effect. The United States
Jerusalem, as they did two years and Britian will represent the
opponents of the resolution,
ago.
Long queues of volunteers while the other two Council
greeted the opening of registra- members—the Dominican Re-
tion offices for enlistment in public and New Zealand ab-
Israel's regular army on Dec. 11. stained.
Trusteeship Council Gloomy
Sharett Attacks UN Move
LAKE SUCCESS.—It is pre- It is authoritatively estimated
dieted here that a special, ex- that the Council can complete
traordinaty meeting - of the the drafting of the Jerusalem
United Nations General Assem- statute within two weeks, but no
bly will be necessary this spring one expects this to happen be-
for the sole purpose of dealing cause of the intra-Council de-
With the Palestine issue, accord- bate which is anticipated be-
ing to a high official of the UN tween the Anglo-American dele-
Secretariat. gates and the representatives of
The prediction was made the nations which voted for the
as the UN Trusteeship Coun- resolution.
cil began c onsider a t i o n of Before the UN Assembly ad-
the plan for an international en- journed, it adopted a budget of
clave for Jerusalem in accord- $8,000,000 for the international-
ance with the UN decision of ization of Jerusalem. Israel
last Friday—by a vote of 38 to voted against adoption of this
14, seven abstaining. The official section of the overall $49,600,-
said that such an extraordinary 000 budget.
session is a "foregone conclu- Israel Foreign Minister Moshe
sion" in view of the refusal of Sharett assailed the resolution,
Israel and Jordan to recognize after its passage, and declared
the internationalization of Jeru- that those who sponsored it
salem except for the Holy Places. "charged themselves with a grave
,
moral responsibility f o r the
moral authority of, the United
Nations." During the course of
the debate which preceded the
vote, Mr. Sharett predicted that
the population, of the city will
ignore the international man-
date. •
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Unof fi-
cial contact between Israel and
Tra n s j or d a n representatives
who have been meeting on an
agreement concerning the fu-
ture of Jerusalem was resumed
in a house located in no-man's
land. It is understood that the
participants in the meeting dis-
cussed the partition of the city
in the light of the UN decision
to internationalize the Jerusa-
lem area.
Open Roads for Christmas
The special Israel - Transj or-
dan committee for Jerusalem
decided to abolish no-man's ;
land in this city by establishing
one demarcation line, an of-
ficial communique stated today.
The Committee is continuing
discussions on reopening the
Mount Scopus road to the Jews
and the Bethlehem road to the
Arabs.
The Israel-Transjordan com-
mittee for reuniting Arab fami-
lies in Israel met this morning
and approved the crossing of the
lines on Dec. 22 by more than
70 Arabs, most of them Chris-
tians, who will thus be able to
spend Christmas with their
families. Additional lines will be
presented to the committee at
its next meeting December 18.
NEW YORK, (JTA)—The ex-
ecutive of the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America pledged to the
Israel Government and people
"the full and unremitting sup-
port of the entire membership of
the Zionist Organization of
America" in all efforts to save
Jerusalem from a "foreign yoke."
The pledge was made in a cable
to Premier Ben Gurion, after
Daniel Frisch, Z. 0. A. president,
voiced appreciation for the U. S.
stand at the Ur against the
internationalization of Jerusa-
lem.
Addressing a special meeting
of the National Executive Corn-
mittee of the organization held
here today, the Z. 0. A. presi-
dent confidently predicted that
"the UN will reconsider and re-
scind its, resolution to sever the
ancient Jewish capital from the
living body of Israel," and that
"Jerusalem will remain Jewish.'
Frisch attacked Dr. Theodor
dor Heuss, president of the West
German Republic, for rejecting
the principle of Germany's "col-
lective guilt" for the crimes
committed against the Jews by
the Nazis.
THE JEWISH N EWS-3
Friday, December 16, 1949
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