TRUCE HOLDS

Grey River Argus, 24 August 1948, Page 5

TRUCE HOLDS

PROPOSALS FOR PALESTINE PEACE LONDON, Aug. 22. The United Nations mediator for Palestine, Count. Bernadotte said in Stockholm td-day that he would offer his peace- proposals tor Palestine to the United Nations General Assembly which convenes in Paris on September 21. The Israeli Foreign Office spokesman said in Tel Aviv to-day that Israel was prepared to hold separate peace talks with each Arab country. He added that if such talks were held Transjordan would probably be the first country on the list. An Iraqi delegation has left Bagdad for Amman to discuss the unification of the Araqi and Transjordan military commands, says the Associated Press correspondent in Cairo, quoting the newspaper “Al Misri.” This newspaper reports that Iraq has asked Britain to advise the British officers with the Transjordan Arab Legion to resign or take long leave, otherwise they will be dismissed when Iraq takes command. Jewish Leaders on the Situation PEACE PROPOSALS AND QUEST FOR U.S. AID (Rec 11.35 p.m.) LONDON, Aug 23. ‘We hope that the present war will finish soon, .with conclusion of peace with the Arabs —they need us and we need them,” the Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion said at a meeting of the Inner Zionist Council, reports an Associated Press correspondent at Jerusalem. Mr Ben Gurion added that the truce was not yet working against the Jews, but it might do so if it continued indefinitely, with an imposition of immigration restrictions and foreign control He urged the council to continue to mobilise as long as peace was not concluded. The Foreign Minister M. Shcrtok, suggested a stricter territorial separation between the Jews and Arabs to avoid a repetition of the recent political disturbances. He added that a solution of the Arab minority problem might be the key to final Arab-Jew co-operation which Jews urgently desired. AMERICAN AID

Doctor A. H. Silver, Chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency said that if peace negotiations broke down, the American section would approach the United States Government for an immediate abolition of its embargo so that the Jews could acquire arms and ammunition. He said that British pressure had been responsible for the United States Government’s delay in giving Israel full support. ARAB SABOTAGE Major-General Lundstoem, Chief of Staff to Count. Bernadotte, said that it was clear that the Arab Legion was responsible for the major breach of the truce.in wrecking the Latrun water pumping station, reports a British United Press correspondent at Haifa. General Lundstom said that the United Nations would insist that the saboteurs be brought to trial. Jews Better OH in Their Section Of Jerusalem MILITARY SITUATION REMAINS TENSE (Rec. 10.0). LONDON, August 23. A Times correspondent in Jerusalem says:-The Jewish new city of Jerusalem, now under a military governor, is recovering remarkably from effects of the siege. Shops are well stocked by supplies from the city’s corridor to the sea and from United Nations-supervised convoys. Those who can afford high black market prices are able to maintain a high standard of living. The queues for water have shortened considerably since the emergency supply improved. However, the military situation is tense, with people openly cynical of the United Nations truce efforts, and asking: “Which will end first —the socalled truce or the truce-makers’ vocabulary?”

Arabs Ask Jews to Leave Schools Seized in Holy City (Rec. 10.10). LONDON, August 23. Jews and Arabs argued for five hours in a Syrian Catholic Monastery, near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem, in no-man’s-land, while mortar shells thudded and bullets whined outside, says an Associated Press correspondent at Jerusalem. They discussed the restoring of neutrality to a Jewish agricultural school for girls, and an Arab college which the Jews have occupied, although both the college and the school are supposed to ’be controlled by the Red Cross. United Nations oljservers arranged the meeting, which began amicably, with the Jews and Arabs shaking hands. But they soon accused each other of truce violations, The Arabs insisted that the Jews shoula evacuate both points, and shoulo withdraw three hundred yards before the forces were pulled back for half a mile.