Soviet-israel Talks on Russian Property in Jerusalem Progressing

Long-pending negotiations between Israel and the Government of the Soviet Union, concerning millions of dollars worth of property, were suspended last night to give each delegation an opportunity to consult with its governmental authorities. The interruption of the talks was believed to indicate that the negotiators have come close to agreement on some substantive points which now need official government approval, at least in principle.

The dispute involves valuable property in this city, an area known as the “Russian Compound, ” which now includes buildings used by the Israeli Supreme Court, police headquarters, the Ministries of Labor and Communications, Jerusalem City Hall, as well as some private offices and shops.

Much of the land and many of the buildings belonged, before Israel’s new State was reborn in 1948 –and for about a century earlier– to a Russian philanthropic society, the Russian Orthodox Society. Some titles had been registered in the name of the Czar of Russia or in the name of a royal Russian duke.

The Israelis hold that real ownership of the property belonged to the Russian Orthodox Society, but that titles were registered in the names of others to get around restrictions on real estate ownership by private organizations imposed last century by the Turkish regime which had jurisdiction over Palestine.

The Israel Government has already turned over some Russian church property to religious authorities appointed by the Moscow government. The Russians now contend that all the property formerly belonging to the Russian Orthodox Society now belongs to that organization’s legal successor, the Palestine Society, which is affiliated with the Soviet Academy of Sciences.