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Israel’s Foreign Minister Calls on Head of U.S. Delegation to United Nations

November 23, 1949
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Israel Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett, accompanied by Israel delegate Aubrey S. Eban, today paid a diplomatic call on Sen. Warren Austin, head of the American delegation at the United Nations. This was the first diplomatic call paid by Mr. Sharett since his arrival in the United States.

The National Council of Jewish Women called on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations today to support a solution of the problem of Jerusalem which ensures the democratic political rights of its residents by recognizing the present division of the city between the Israel and Arab governments. Mrs. Irving M. Engel, president of the Council, expressed her organization’s approval of the proposal to place religious institutions and Holy Places in all of Palestine under U.N. supervision.

While advocating international machinery to guarantee freedom of access to the Holy Places for all religious groups, Mrs. Engel asserted that “the problems raised by the political status of Jerusalem can only be solved in harmony with the established and legitimate interests of the people who live in the city.” The realities of the situation are that the new city is an integral part of the State of Israel and that the Old City is occupied by the Arabs, she said. “Thus, the Jewish population of Jerusalem can be assured of its democratic political rights only if the new city continues to be an integral part of Israel,” she pointed out.

The United Zionists-Revisionists of America today issued a statement declaring that a divided Jerusalem, not less than an internationalized Jerusalem, would be a threat to the security of Israel, and thus to the peace of the entire Middle East. “Division of the Holy City would mean the perpetuation of Arab rule in the Old City and the building up of a British-dominated kingdom in the very heart of the Jewish state,” the statement said. “The Jewish people will never acquiesce to such a scheme — they will never surrender the City of David to Abdullah.”

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