Israeli Cabinet Meets to Discuss Truce Terms; Political Groups Warn Against Hasty Decision

The Israeli Cabinet met today to discuss the truce proposals offered by U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, who has notified the Security Council that he would be able to report by Wednesday the success or failure of his truce negotiations with the Jews and the Arabs. The Cabinet meeting will continue tomorrow.

Prior to the meeting of the Cabinet, Premier David Ben Gurion received a petition signed by representatives of all political groups in Israel requesting that no decision on the truce proposals be taken by the government unless the 37-member State Council is convened.

Government circles today indicated that the seven-point agreement reached between the Israeli Government and the U.N. mediator, which was reported yesterday at Lake Success by the Israeli representative to the U.N., refers to previous talks only and does not pertain to the present position.

The Israeli Foreign Office today released a list of synagogues destroyed by the Arab Legion during its battle with Jewish forces in the Old City of Jerusalem. The list discloses that 22 of 27 synagogues were destroyed before the Jews surrendered, and the Foreign Office statement added that the five left intact on the day of surrender were later reported to have been blasted. Hundreds of Torahs and religions books were buried in the ruins of the synagogues.

The statement also denied Arab allegation that the Jews had damaged or destroyed Christian Holy Places during the battle for the old City. It charged that the Arabs had converted several Christian monasteries into gun positions for mortars and artillery shelling the Jews in the new city.