QUIET IN JERUSALEM, BUT THE CITY'S FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, 6 May 1948, Page 5

QUIET IN JERUSALEM, BUT THE CITY'S FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Recd. 7.20 p.m. London, April 5. j Quiet continued in Jerusalem yes- ■ terday after the 48 hours cease fire j had passed, and with British troops' beginning to enter the city there is some prospect that quiet will continue, according to “The Times” Jerusalem correspondent. “The difficulty now, he says, is to follow the many threads of negotiations on the city’s future. Not only are there talks at Lake Success, but also ii\ Jerusalem, first by the Government with the Arabs and the Jews, secondly by the Red Cross, with all three, and, thirdly, by the Consular Truce Commission. These again are divided into those dealing with the old city and the new. The Haganah (Jewish defence force) has proclaimed a cease fire in the old city, but the Arabs, who are in the vast majority there, have said nothing. The Red Cross is now putting all Jerusalem as a neutral city under its flag. The British will hardly object, but the attitude of the Jew’s and Arabs and the question of supplies have to be clarified. Most of these negotiations, the correspondent points out, centre upon the cessation of hostilities, but the city's future Government has still to be settled. Unless a new United Nations organisation commission comes at the last minute the city’s administration must pass largely into Jewish hanfls.