FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On August 7, 1951, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Knesset Finance Committee gave its final approval to the allocation of sums under the general IL 45.5 million supplement budget. Regarding the question of alleged mishandling of public property in the granting of lands in North Tel Aviv to high government officials, the Knesset Committee reserved its opinion until it would receive the state comptroller’s report on its investigation in this case.
Five infiltrators were killed near the border with Gaza. Two infiltrators, bearing large quantities of smuggled goods, were apprehended in the Jordan Valley. Marauders committed a series of thefts in the early morning in the Judean Hills region.
Tnuva could not be held responsible if unhygienic or infected dairy products reached the consumer, a senior bacteriologist of the marketing cooperative told the Post. All milk reaching Tnuva dairies from farms and settlements was being sterilized at central dairies, adding that what happened after the milk reached the distributors could not be laid at Tnuva’s doorstep.
The Palestine Conciliation Commission officially announced in Jerusalem the resumption of its meetings in Geneva. “At these meetings new and far-reaching proposals aimed at the solution of the Palestine problem were being discussed,” an official release disclosed. The proposals were actually a plan presented by James Barco, the commission’s US deputy delegate. This was apparently the US State Department’s plan to promote peace between Jews and Arabs.
50 YEARS AGO
On August 7, 1966, The Jerusalem Post reported that president Zalman Shazar was due to return home from his seven-week visit to South America and the US, which included state visits to Uruguay, Chile and Brazil. A gala reception was planned for the president in Jerusalem.
El Al had to lease out two of the latest model long-range jet planes, Boeing 707/320Bs, because of its inability to reach an agreement with its air crews on a contract that would make it worthwhile training them to operate the planes.
The Post’s editorial commented on the Kibbutz Hameuhad Convention at Yagur and asked why the Ahdut Ha’avoda movement represented there still opposed a full merger with Mapai and Alignment political parties in the name of labor unity.
25 YEARS AGO
On August 7, 1991, The Jerusalem Post reported that according to a senior government official, if the PLO named delegates, Israel would drop out of the Mideast peace conference. “If the PLO announces the delegation it becomes a PLO delegation and we would not be there.”
The US administration would not make any commitment to the Arabs which would run counter to the understanding it had reached with Israel with regard to the Middle East peace process, foreign minister David Levy told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Within the next few days, 30 caravans were to be brought to the settlement of Eshkolot in the Hebron hills to house 15 families of the original nucleus families and 15 additional families, Eshkolot settlement secretary Motti Lipshitz announced. Eshkolot, officially established as a permanent settlement on August 5, 1991, was designed for 400 families.
Chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Ehud Barak said that the current month’s IDF enlistment was the largest in country’s history, including large number of immigrants from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Barak told Paratroop Corps applicants that, even if they were not accepted, they could be part of other elite units and make a contribution to the IDF.
A high-ranking Albanian delegation was received by the Foreign Ministry and discussed the question of future diplomatic relations between the two countries.