The “Jerusalem Committee,” a prestigious body of international public figures and academics, has urged Israel to continue its excavations in Jerusalem. In a resolution adopted last Friday at the end of the committee’s deliberations, the committee–which is convened periodically by Mayor Teddy Kollek to give advice and opinions on Jerusalem–praised the “commitment of the Israel government and the skill of its archaeologists” and said they had “put the civilized world in their debt,”
Several committee members said privately that they had come with open minds, in view of last year’s UNESCO resolutions condemning the Jerusalem digs. But, having visited the sites they were satisfied that the excavations benefitted humanity and knowledge.
The Rev. W.G.M. Brandful, general secretary of the Christian Council Ghana, said: “I can go back to my people and defend the position that these excavations are on behalf of scholarship.” Dr. Franklis Murphy, of Los Angeles, chairman of the Los Angeles Times-Mirror publishing and broadcasting chain, said UNESCO should have praised Israel for its work rather than condemn it.
CALL FOR A UNITED CITY
A committee resolution noted that the digs bring to light finds of Christian and Moslem importance as well as Jewish. The committee and its resolutions steered clear of politics, stating only that Jerusalem should remain a united city. Dr. Murphy, who is also chairman of the Jerusalem Committee’s resolution workshop, told new-men, “The obscenity of a divided city must never again be repeated.”
In another resolution, the committee urged that the policy of intercommunal relations followed by the municipality be continued despite terrorist attacks, The committee; which includes scholars, architects and planners, clergymen and civic leaders from four continents, praised the freedom of worship that they had witnessed in Jerusalem.
There was some criticism, however, by the planners on the committee. The resolutions urged Kollek to appoint a chief city planner, a post that has been vacant for two years. Other resolutions hinted at poor architecture in the restored Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
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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.
