FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On June 5, 1951, The Jerusalem Post reported that a measure extending until December 31, 1951, the Defense Regulations of 1939, the source of the government’s power to impose economic and fiscal controls, passed its first reading in the Knesset.
A picture of physical expansion and monetary inflation in Israeli economy was revealed in the Anglo-Palestine Bank balance sheet for 1950. An increase of from IL 7 million to IL 12m. in credits opened abroad by individuals and the growth of the local economy from IL 87m. to IL 112m. had to be, at least partly, attributed to inflation.
The 954 Mapam political party delegates concluded their Second National Conference in Haifa with their organizational unity as “Zionist Pioneering and Socialist Party” intact, but with all previously existing ideological differences still unresolved.
Damascus and Amman radio stations were planning to begin Hebrew broadcasts soon, the Near East Arabic Broadcasting Service reported.
50 YEARS AGO
On June 5, 1966, The Jerusalem Post reported from Monrovia that prime minister Levi Eshkol completed the third round of talks with president William Tubman of Liberia and they issued a joint communiqué on their friendly relations. Eshkol was leaving Liberia for Leopoldville, the fourth stop of his seven-nation African tour.
In Washington, vice-president Hubert Humphrey had revealed that during his recent visit to New Delhi he had urged the Indian government to accept technical assistance from Israel, but was unsuccessful. In his address to the American Jewish Press Association, Humphrey said that China was seeking to foment an Arab war of “national liberation” against Israel as means to infiltrate the Middle East. He added that there were “serious” attempts by “militant forces” in Southeast Asia - and he named Peking and Hanoi – to expand tensions from that region to the Middle East.
The Post’s editorial said that Kupat Holim had some 1,800,000 members, or about three-quarters of the population, the great majority of whom were members by virtue of the family’s breadwinner’s membership in the Histadrut. For decades, Kupat Holim gave full facilities of its tremendous network of medical services to all comers. Today Kupat Holim was sick and urgent measures needed to be taken to cure this illness and to start providing a better service.
25 YEARS AGO
On June 5, 1991, The Jerusalem Post reported that at least eight gunmen were reported killed and nearly 50 people wounded in a second raid by Israel Air Force planes, in the space of 24 hours, on Palestinian terrorist bases in South Lebanon.
Foreign minister David Levy said that France had agreed to guarantee $500 million in loans to Israel for immigration-related projects. The loan was the biggest Paris had ever extended to Israel, and surpassed by $100m. guarantees offered by the US for the same purpose.
In Washington, president George Bush met with US secretary of state James Baker and members of his cabinet to determine the future course of the Middle East peace process, following the dispatch of letters to the region from the president, appealing for a compromise. The White House spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, would not comment on the response to these letters which were addressed to the leaders of Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, or whether Baker would return to the Middle East, if responses were encouraging. Fitzwater would only say that “we believe there is hope and there is opportunity and we will continue to work the case, and Secretary Baker, I know, remains involved in continuous consultations on a private basis on this matter.”