U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte today revealed at a press conference here that he has set a six-month limit on his efforts to mediate the war in Palestine and that he has informed United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie accordingly.
(At Lake Success, Assistant Secretary-General Andrew W. Cordier told a press conference that the U.N. Secretariat has planned for a four-month cease-fire in Palestine and has budgeted $1,000,000 for administering the truce during that period.)
Declaring that he has received information from Cairo that Arab representatives there are prepared to talk to him about his “peace suggestions,” Bernadotte said that he had arranged to get an answer from the Arabs and the Jews before the expiration of the truce on July 9. “I have not asked for an extension of the truce because before I ask for anything, I have to hear their opinions,” he stated.
The U.N. mediator announced that he has arranged for an adequate water supply to the Jews in Jerusalem and for the “demilitarization” of the Hebrew University, Hadassah Hospital and the Victoria Hospital in the city. He is expected to leave for Cairo tomorrow.
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