FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On January 11, 1952, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Arabs were now willing to make a “great concession” to Israel. Fadhil al Jamali of Iraq announced in the Ad Hoc Political Committee of the UN General Assembly that “the Arabs have now moved from their position of a single unified Arab state in the whole of Palestine, which they firmly held in 1947, to a position accepting the UN resolutions.” In the course of a 70-minute outpouring of sustained hatred for Israel, he made it clear that the Arabs, having launched a war to prevent partition, and having been defeated and lost ground, now wanted to forget the war and accept the 1947 partition resolution after all.
The UN General Assembly hammered out plans for UNRWA and the Palestine Conciliation Commission in its reduced form. The Soviet call for the abolition of the conciliation machinery failed to win general support.
The Olympic Organizing Committee in Helsinki sent to Israel a formal invitation to take part in the Olympic Games in Finland. Israel was the 76th country to be invited to the games.
Five death sentences and seven prison terms not exceeding five years and six acquittals were requested by the prosecutor and special court in Baghdad, where 21 persons were facing trial on charges for espionage and activities in favor of Israel.
The Jewish Agency purchased abroad 18,000 prefabricated wooden huts and 1,300 wooden prefabricated houses for immigrants in ma’barot (transit camps).
50 YEARS AGO
On January 11, 1967, The Jerusalem Post reported that finance minister Pinhas Sapir called for the dismissal of 3,500 civil servants (7% of the total) to reduce government expenditure by IL 40 million. He stressed that the economy could not afford to support public machinery on such a large scale.
Gen. Odd Bull, UNTSO chief of staff in Jerusalem, went to Damascus to discuss the fast-deteriorating Israeli-Syrian border situation. Syrian attacks continued, but instead of the tank fire as in previous days, only machine guns were used.
Foreign minister Abba Eban discussed the Syrian border situation with US ambassador Walworth Barbour at a meeting in the ministry in Jerusalem.
UN secretary-general U Thant said that the current exchanges of fire between Israel and Syria were “more seasonal than anything else.” He explained that “when the rains begin to fall in the area, grass grows and cultivation starts. When cultivation starts, there are always shootings and incidents.”
10 YEARS AGO
On January 11, 2007, The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF said it was short of NIS 8 billion to meet current threats. Warning that there was significant chance of war with Syria and Hezbollah, and that Iran would become nuclear in 2007, a high-ranking IDF officer said that the defense budget was NIS 8b. short of the amount needed to effectively deal with such critical threats.
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said that Israel is a “reality,” but the significance of his words was immediately downplayed by both Israeli and Hamas officials. In an interview with Reuters, Mashaal was quoted as saying that Israel is a “reality” and that “there will remain a state called Israel, this is a matter of fact.” “The problem is not that there is an entity called Israel,” he said. “The problem is that the Palestinian state is nonexistent.”
Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz decided to appoint MK Ghaleb Majadle as Israel’s first Arab and first Muslim minister, replacing MK Ophir Paz-Pines as Science, Culture and Sports Minister.