Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem declared here that Jerusalem, will always be the capital of Israel, that its unification was almost “as important as the founding of the State of Israel itself” and that the city has been “comparatively peaceful” despite considerable tension there.
Addressing an audience of 1000 people at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel Tuesday night, organized by the Allied Jewish Community Services with the Canadian Jewish Congress and the United Israel Appeal, Kollek said Jerusalem was a “success story” and “will remain the capital of Israel no matter how many countries move their embassies from the city.”
But; he warned, “If we want to be a strong nation we have to give everyone the same chances. If we want to keep Jerusalem as one city, we have to give the some chance to the Arabs and the Christians as to the Jews. If we don’t, what are we going to say if they try to divide us again?” Kollek stressed that Israel would never bow to outside pressure, and added, “We want to do things right because of our own conscience, not because someone is forcing us.”
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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.
