Mayor Teddy Kollek announced today that quick-study Hebrew language Ulpanim courses would be started soon for Jerusalem’s Arab population. He also announced that an advisory committee for Arab residents of Old Jerusalem would be established soon and coopted to the Jerusalem City Council. He made the announcements after the first City Council meeting to be held since new and old Jerusalem were reunited.
The Chief Rabbinate Council meanwhile appealed to the Jerusalem Municipality, and to the Ministry of Religious Affairs to close the approaches to the Wailing Wall in the Old City to vehicles on Saturday to prevent “mass desecration of the site” on the Sabbath by organized motor tours and other vehicles.
At the same time, the Old City was being prepared for a resumption of tourism, this time under Israeli auspices. Its hotels have been authorized to reopen and have received temporary gradings from the Israeli Tourism Ministry. The famous Rockefeller Museum, which houses some of the world’s rarest Holy Land finds, has been opened.
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