One Israeli soldier was seriously injured and two slightly hurt when fighting broke out in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon between Arab Legionnaires and Israelis near the Old City wall, Israeli military authorities reported today. It was the first incident since the armistice agreement between Israel and Transjordan was signed at Rhodes on April 3.
Each side claimed the other fired first but the incident only ceased when Col. Moshe Dayan, Israeli commander in Jerusalem, and Lt. Col. Abdullah Bey Tel, Tranajordan governor of the Old City, ordered their men to stop firing. The number of Arab casualties was not known.
Col. Dayan today conferred with Brig. Gen. William Riley, United Nations chief of staff, at an extraordinary meeting of the joint armistice commission. A suggestion for building a barbed wire fence along the Jerusalem front line was reportedly discussed.
Gen. Riley today invalidated a decision of the armistice commission to divide a neutral, United Nations-controlled area south of Jerusalem, The decision, taken a few days ago, affected the former Government House and the Arab College grounds. Riley told the commission here that he did not recognize it as being competent to dispose of neutral areas.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.