Curfew Lifted Fully in Jerusalem’s Old City; Military Patrols No Longer Seen

Curfew was lifted fully in the Eastern part of Jerusalem — in which the Old City is located — as from last night and for the first time since the Six–Day War ended in the unification of Jerusalem, the city returned to normal life.

Jews and Arabs crowded the principal streets in the Old City, patronizing shops and cafes, many of which remained open until midnight last night. Today, as last night, no army patrols were visible along the streets. East Jerusalem was no different than the former “New” Jerusalem. The city’s unification, as far as the civilian population was concerned, was one busy, normal metropolis.

The Cabinet decided yesterday to hold its annual Independence Day Parade, in 1968, in unified Jerusalem. The 1968 parade will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth. Until the Israel-Arab armistice agreements became defunct in June, due to the war, Israel was not allowed to bring heavy armaments into Jerusalem. However, in 1968, the plans are to make the parade the occasion for the largest display of ground and air force material Israel had ever shown publicly. Among other things, Israel will display large accumulations of weaponry captured from Egypt during the Six-Day War. Many of those arms were Russian-built.

A group of foreign Jewish social workers, most of them Americans, was told by Israeli military authorities at E1 Arish today that it will take at least three more months to sort out and rehabilitate the mass of weapons captured from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the June war. The social workers toured the Sinai areas after having been in Jerusalem to attend the International Conference of Jewish Communal Services.

It was announced today that the war fought against the Arabs last June will be called officially, hereafter, “The Six-Day War.” A special decoration will be awarded to all regular and reserve units that fought in the war. The decoration will consist of a red-white-blue ribbon, with a sky-blue ribbon on each side. It was also announced that the decorations will be awarded at ceremonies to be held October 29, the anniversary of the opening of the Sinai campaign in 1956.

Four Arab civilians were injured near Gaza today, in the village of Jabaliya, when an automobile in which they were riding struck a mine. Israeli military authorities immediately imposed a curfew on the town, organizing a house-to-house search for saboteurs. Aside from that action outside Gaza, the city itself was quiet today.