The London Times today published a map reportedly distributed to delegates at the 27th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem last week and claimed that it “throws some light on what Israel intends to do with the Arab territories” occupied in last June’s Six-Day War. The Times noted in that connection the location of settlements established since the war and the sites of projected new settlements. “If there was ever any doubt as to the future of the Golan Heights, the map removes them,” the Times said. “There are already nine settlements of the strong military variety thriving there and two more are planned.”
Two new settlements are earmarked near the Arab towns of Hebron and Jericho and “If one studies this in light of five other new settlements around the northern and pre-June (1967) western borders of the West Bank, it would appear that East Jerusalem and the territory bordering the Dead Sea area are to become part of Greater Israel and the rest, one would assume, would be negotiable,” according to the Times. The paper observed that military settlements have been established along the Sinai coast. “The hand of the cartographer provides further fuel for speculation,” the Times said. “Except for the Suez Canal, the international markings appear all along the June cease-fire lines.”
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, the so-called movement for a Greater Israel demanded that the Government immediately launch a large scale colonization effort throughout the Jordan Valley and denounced “any negotiations with the Kingdom of Jordan that are based on a readiness to compromise Jewish sovereignty” there. The demand was contained in a statement issued at a meeting of the Greater Israel movement’s council. Four leaders of the movement — Nathan Alterman, Oved Ben Ami, Ephraim Ben Haim and Moshe Shamir — met with Labor Minister Allon to discuss his proposal to partition the West Bank into Israeli and Arab zones. Following that meeting, spokesmen for a Greater Israel denounced the plan as dangerous and ill-calculated to achieve peace. Advocates of a Greater Israel demand that Israel declare the present cease-fire lines the permanent boundaries of Israel.
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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.
