A request that the city of Jerusalem be internationalized under the protection of the United Nations has been forwarded to the U.N. by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group in this city which is opposed to “Zionist political domination of the Holy Land,” it was revealed here today.
The group, Neturei Kartha — translated as guardians of the city — in a memorandum to the U.N., has also demanded that the members of the sect be given international passports and that the U.N. appoint one or several “responsible persons among United Nations members who will be entrusted to secure and protect the rights and interests” of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem. It also asked the conversion of Jerusalem into a city where Orthodox Jews “could live freely and independently.”
The memorandum asserts that the group has been “generally opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state, especially under Zionist rule” and this point of view was expressed to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, which in 1947 brought to the U.N. a recommendation for the partition of Palestine and the establishment of an independent Jewish state. The document, signed by Rabbis Amram Blau and Ahron Katzenelenbogen, states that because the Zionism “of today fully contradicts the divine Torah, our spiritual leaders in Palestine and throughout the world have started to fight Zionist political domination of the Holy Land.” It added that “Zionist rule of the country” endangers the Orthodox “since the Zionists are resolved to root out the religious basis of Judaism and change its face.”
Meanwhile, a mass meeting in Jerusalem held yesterday by the Herut demanded that the “entire city of David” should become the capital of Israel. The speakers, most of whom were Herut deputies in the Knesset, called on the people of Jerusalem to protest to the government which “might yield to pressure to compromise.” In another call to the government, the meeting told it to “be firm, do not yield” and not only the Herut but all the Jews will support it.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
