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U.N. Mediator Drops All Plans for Future of Jerusalem; “tense Situation” Reported

August 8, 1948
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All proposals for the future of Jerusalem have been dropped, a U.N. spokesman said here today. He added that U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte “never made a proposal for an Aral) Jerusalem.”

Additional U.N. observers have been speeded to Jerusalem because of the “tense situation” there, the spokesman declared. They will try to establish a no-man’s land in the city due to the constant and increasing sniping.

Meanwhile, a complete deadlock seems to have developed over the question of piping water to Jewish Jerusalem from an Arab-controlled station. However, water previously stored in cisterns is still being distributed by tank trucks in the Jewish areas of the city.

Jean Nieuwenhuys, Belgian consul and chairman of the U.N. Truce Commission, left for Amman today in a last attempt to straighten out the problem. When U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte was here Tuesday he expressed the hope that the Arab Legion would consent to permit the flow of water from the coastal plain via the Arab-controlled Latrun stretch “if not, further steps would have to be considered,” Bernadotte emphasized.

Soviet and American diplomatic and consular missions are at present on the high-seas en route to Israel and are expected to arrive here shortly, a government spokesman announced today. He revealed that the Soviet mission, headed by Minister L. Yeshov, is made up of 17 persons who sailed from Odessa last week.

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