Prime Minister Levi Eshkol said today, at the conclusion of a Cabinet meeting at which a report was presented on the unanimous Security Council resolution last night asking Israel to abandon its plans for the Independence Day parade in Jerusalem, that the parade would take place as scheduled on May 2.
A Government spokesman said that the Cabinet had nothing to add to the statement by Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, who announced, immediately after the Security Council vote, that the resolution was “unacceptable” to Israel. The spokesman said that the Cabinet agreed fully with the envoy’s statement at the UN. He added that other events and festivities planned for Independence Day would be held without change.
The meeting heard a security situation report from Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and a representative of the army headquarters reported on the incident near Jericho this morning in which 13 Arab saboteurs were killed. Foreign Minister Abba Eban, in reporting on the Security Council resolution, noted that the Council had rejected efforts by UN Secretary General U Thant and pro-Arab states to include in the resolution a reference to the armistice agreement.
A ministerial committee was charged at the meeting with working out the details of cuts in the development budget of 200 million pounds ($57 million). The funds are being transferred to the defense budget.
The Israeli press was unanimous in condemning the Security Council resolution. Editorial writers and cartoonists were particularly bitter against Secretary General U Thant whose intervention, they said, prompted Jordan to bring its complaint against the parade to the Security Council. Dress rehearsals for the parade, which will start in East Jerusalem next Thursday, were held today. Throngs lined the streets to watch the preparations. Cars estimated in the thousands jammed the roads leading to Jerusalem Airport where the military units that will march in the parade or fly over it are stationed. The airport is also the repository of much of the heavy equipment captured from the Egyptians and Syrians in last June’s war which will be displayed in the parade.
Arabic leaflets were distributed in the outskirts of Jerusalem today urging Arabs to stay away from the Independence Day parade. But many Arabs were expected to see it anyway since it will be the first public event to be televised in Israel. General television broadcasting is not expected to begin for several months.
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.
