Premier David Ben-Gurion will ask the Knesset next Wednesday to reject a Herut Party motion for appointment of a parliamentary committee to investigate the circumstances of the Arab capture of the Old City of Jerusalem during the liberation war of 1948.
The Herut introduced the resolution last week after publication of a book of memoirs by Dov Joseph, military governor of Jerusalem in 1948, charging the loss of the Old City had been the result of errors by Brig. David Shaltiel, commander of the Israel forces in the Jerusalem area, and other prominent persons in the provisional government. One of Dr. Joseph’s charges had been that Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett had been overly compliant with United Nations instructions at a time when the Arabs were flouting them.
The Herut move was discussed at the Cabinet meeting here yesterday. The Cabinet attitude, as Mr. Ben-Gurion is expected to express it in the debate on the motion Wednesday, was that such a probe would entail extensive historical research which was not a task for a body composed of representatives of political parties. Mr. Ben-Gurion is also expected to note that the subject had been dealt with by persons who had not had all the facts at their disposal.
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