The Israeli Cabinet went into special session day immediately after it became known that U.N. mediator Bernadotte was assassinated Jerusalem.
At the same time, the Israeli Army was placed under alert because of fear that he Arabs may utilize the Bernadotte assassination for launching a sudden offensive against the Jewish forces.
Count Bernadotte’s last hours were spent in conferences with Aral Logion commanders at Ramallah and he was returning to Jerusalem to confer with Israeli military leaders tomorrow when he was assassinated.
Originally, the mediator’s plans did not call for him to visit Jerusalem, but to be in Damascus today. However, his itinerary was changed at the last minute on account of last night’s heavy shelling of Jewish Jerusalem by Arab forces. The barrage, considered one of the worst to be laid down in Jerusalem, accounted for the lives of three Jewish civilians and the wounding of an Israeli soldier and five civilians.
When Bernadotte arrived at the Kollandia airfield, near the city, he was greeted by American consul John J. MacDonald, chairman of the U.N. consular truce commission. Both men then proceeded to Ramallah for the parley with the Legion commanders.
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