A new United Nations plan for internationalization of the Holy Places in Jerusalem, which would not deprive Israel of the New City, was reliably reported today to have been drawn up under the guidance of Roger Garreau, president of the U.N. Trusteeship Council.
According to this plan, embodied in M. Garreau’s working paper on Jerusalem, the area to be internationalized would be reduced to a small enclave patterned after the position of the Vatican in Italy and encompassing a maximum of 30,000 Jews and Arabs in the area. The internationalized sector would include parts of both the Old City and the new city.
The General Assembly’s demand for a United Nations regime in this area would best be satisfied by this plan, it is noted here, while at the same time neither Israel nor Transjordan would be deprived of their respective political claims in the city. The proposed enclave would be run by a U.N. commissioner and policed by a small contingent of several hundred men who would be recruited from the local Israel and Arab populations.
The first unofficial reaction in Israel circles to the proposed plan is a negative one. It is expected that the plan will be submitted to members of the Trusteeship Council when the Council reconvenes on Jan. 19 in Geneva.
It was learned on high authority, meanwhile, that the Garreau plan did not originate either with the British or American delegations to the U.N., both of which are now maintaining a “hands-off” policy on the whole issue. The plan appears to be one of purely French origin and apparently seeks to save the world body’s prestige in an unpopular decision.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
