The suggestion that the “brown zone,” as Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth are called in Vatican terminology, be internationalized and its administration entrusted to a council of the foreign consuls residing there and headed by the consular dean is being renewed here. The proposition results from a suggestion made in the Catholic press that the solution to the present difficulties in Palestine would be to transfer to the Vatican, which is now recognized as a sovereign state, the Mandate over the “brown zone.”
But the struggles among the Armenians, the Greek Orthodox and the Copts as well as their opposition to the Vatican would, it is thought, make the Vatican’s mandate a too heavy responsibility, hence the renewal of the consular plan of administration.
According to the consular plan the highest ecclesiastical authorities would also participate in the Council which would endeavor to reestablish balance among the churches which existed before 1740. The proposal was made simultaneously in all Catholic papers here which indicates that it was done at the suggestion of a leading Vatican official. While the proposal was rejected before by the League of Nations, it is pointed out that the changed international status of the Vatican, and the possibility that the Vatican may even become a member of the League of Nations, makes it possible that with the support of Italy the transferance of the Mandate over these three cities may be accomplished.
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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.
