Mayor Teddy Kollek abruptly cancelled a guided tour of Jerusalem with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt yesterday after U.S. officials indicated a reluctance to have Goldschmidt visit. East Jerusalem under official auspices.
An aide to the Mayor explained later, “We will not accept any conditional visits to united Jerusalem.” Kollek had planned on hour-long automobile tour with Goldschmidt, visiting all quarters of the city, but he called it off rather than restrict the itinerary to the western portions of the capital.
Kollek acted in the same manner three years ago when the then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury A. Michael Blumenthal declined to take an official visit to East Jerusalem. Goldschmidt and Blumenthal are both Jewish.
Goldschmidt called on Premier Menachem Begin and President Yitzhak Navon yesterday. He was accompanied by Alfred Moses, President Carter’s advisor on Jewish affairs.
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