Israel will release all assets of Palestine Arab refugees frozen in this country–amounting to the equivalent of $8,500,000–it was announced here following conclusion of an agreement covering this move between the Israel Government and the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine.
This agreement, like an earlier one in which blocked Arab accounts totalling 1,000,000 pounds sterling ($2,800,000) were released, carried no strings attached. In addition, Israel will release the contents of safe deposit boxes of the refugees and is consulting with the Conciliation Commission on procedures for speedy release of the cash and valuables.
The announcement of this agreement, which is seen as a possible forerunner of other moves conciliatory to the Arabs, came on the heels of a pre-Rosh Hashanah appeal to the Arab states to come to a peace settlement with Israel. That plea was carried in a broadcast in the Arabic language on the Israel radio.
In the broadcast, Gideon Raphael, head of the Middle Eastern Department of the Israel Foreign Ministry, indicated that the Israel Government is prepared to carry out its promise of paying compensation to the Arab refugees for land and other assets left behind. He also indicated that a practical plan could be worked out for inter-Arab communication through the Negev, that Jordan could be granted free port and transit facilities from Haifa, and that Israel has manufactured goods available for trade with the Arab states. Also, he stressed, that no defense pact for the Middle East region has a chance of being successful while it disregards Israel.
The importance attached to the broadcast in the Arab world can be seen from the fact that the major Arabic newspapers in the Jordan-held Old City of Jerusalem carried reports of the broadcast under banner headlines. While their editorial comments on it were critical, they gave complete reports of the broadcast in their news columns Israeli circles were heartened by this treatment, noting that it gave Jordanians the opportunity to read the Israeli proposals in context.
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.
