Page image
Page image

23

to any decision which the General Assembly might subsequently take, a " symbolic force " of, say, a thousand men should be selected on an individual volunteer basis without distinction as to nationality, except that Palestinians would be excluded. The commander of the force, who might be called " Special Delegate of the United Nations/' because, in view of the situation, he would have to assume the functions of chief of the municipal administration, should be appointed immediately. M. Garreau made it clear that in his opinion, if the Arabs and Jews did not agree, then the situation would be hopeless, and such a small force could not possibly save Jerusalem. In this connection, however, he indicated that he had received a favourable response to his plan from both the Jewish Agency and the Arab Higher Committee. Truce for Jerusalem At this stage in the debate there was general agreement that much could be done with the co-operation of Jews and Arabs, and both parties appeared to be ready to compromise. Representatives of both communities had expressed their anxiety that Jerusalem should be spared, and there was consequently a strong feeling in the Council that the first task was to bring representatives of Arabs and Jews together around the table to agree upon a truce for Jerusalem. Thus any question of maintaining law and order by enforcement measures might conceivably not arise. The following day was devoted to discussion of a truce, and eventually the representatives of the Arab Higher Committee and the Jewish Agency agreed to recommend to their respective communities the following cease-fire arrangement: (1) That all military operations and acts of violence shall cease forthwith within the Walled City of Jerusalem, (2) That cease-fire orders will be issued to take effect in the Walled City at the earliest possible moment, (3) That the keeping of the truce shall be observed by an impartial Commission, and (4) That the specific terms of the truce will be elaborated in consultation with the two parties. After a delay of two days Mr. Shertok, representative of the Jewish Agency, stated that his executive in Palestine had agreed to the ceasefire order on condition that supplies should continue to go to Jews in the Old City, that freedom of access to the holy places was assured, and that there should be freedom of access and exit for all unarmed Jews on legitimate business. The representative of the Arab Higher Committee opposed such conditions. There was a great deal of confusion regarding the actual position in Jerusalem, but on 2nd May a cease-fire order was put into effect in the Old City, and it was agreed

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert