A volley of shots by Arab Legionnaires just before midnight last night ended a one-man peace mission and the life of Joseph Cohen, 30-year-old citizen of Israel. The ragged volley killed Cohen outright and turned the white flag of truce which he was carrying into a bloodied shroud.
Cohen, father of four children, was born in the Old City of Jerusalem but had lived in Tel Aviv since the War of Liberation, which saw the Old City overrun and occupied by Jordan forces In his one-man peace mission he had already called on Premier David Ben Gurion and upon Maj. Gen. E.L.M. Burns, UN peace supervisor, whose aid he sought in reaching King Hussein of Jordan. If he could only speak with the Arab king, Cohen believed, he would be able to bring about peace between Israel and Jordan.
Last night, apparently without consulting any authorities, Cohen embarked upon his journey across no-man’s-land in the vicinity of the Damascus Gate.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
