The first Arabic newspaper to be published in East Jerusalem since the June, 1967 Arab-Israel war ran into trouble today when a member of the Knesset (Parliament) objected to an editorial appearing in its inaugural edition yesterday which called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper, A1 Kuds, softened its editorial somewhat by adding that Jerusalem should no longer be divided by barbed wire and mines and by praising the freedom of the press which it said prevailed in Israel more than in Jordan. Before the 1967 war, A1 Kuds was published by the Jordanian Government. In an editorial today, the paper called for the return of all West Bank Arabs who were deported to Jordan since the war.
Shlomo Cohen-Zidon, an independent MK, maintained in the Knesset today that the dissemination of anti-occupation views by the paper could incite to riots and resistance. He demanded to know on whose authority A1 Kuds was licensed. The paper said in a policy statement that its columns “will be open to decent writers, sons of our nation which is tired of the cheap political deceit which has led us from one shameful defeat to another more shameful defeat.” An Arabic daily, A1 Anba, began publication in West Jerusalem three weeks ago.
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