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Arab Envoy Rumored Visiting Israel on Refugee Settlement Issue

September 2, 1959
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Rumors that an important representative from a neighboring country visited Israel to discuss the problem of resettlement of Arab refugees, in the light of the recommendations made to this effect by UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, were rife here today. However, no confirmation of these rumors was available from any authoritative source.

In the meantime, the Jordan Ministry of Development announced today that Jordan is evacuating Arab refugees from the half-destroyed Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem to permanent homes built by the United Nations Works and Relief Agency.

Isshak Nashashibi, the director general of the Jordan Ministry, was quoted in the Jordan press as announcing that 1,000 refugee families were being transferred to 1,000 new housing units built on the outskirts of Jordan-held Old Jerusalem. The refugees have been living in the former Jewish quarter since the Israel War of Independence more than 10 years ago.

The newspaper reports do not indicate what Jordan intends to do with the former Jewish section which was never rebuilt after widespread destruction by Arab troops in the 1948 fighting.

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