Foreign Office experts met today to study the full implications of the United Nations General Assembly decision for internationalizing Jerusalem. Serious decisions on the subject will be taken, it is learned, before Secretary Bevin sets out for Colombo, Ceylon, to attend the Jan. 7 conference of Commonwealth foreign ministers.
Spokesmen of the Foreign Office were unwilling today to comment formally on the General Assembly’s vote on Jerusalem, beyond reiterating that Britain’s decision was firm not to cooperate in implementing the U.N. decision unless both the Arabs of the Old City, controlled by Transjordan, and the Jews of the new city, held by Israel, agreed to it.
Rabbis from the pulpits of synagogues throughout England stressed this weekend that the disappointing decision of the U.N. to internationalize Jerusalem must surely be modified, the U.N. must find some way to adjust the situation, since not only the Jews of the world but also the major powers, such as Britain and the United States, regard it as impracticable.
Neither the Jews of Jerusalem nor elsewhere in Israel are at all perturbed by the U.N. decision to internationalize Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv correspondent of the Times of London writes today. He adds, “the paucity of comment by the usually articulate leaders and the lack of public demonstration best indicate the resolve of this remarkably positive nation.”
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