FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On January 18, 1952, The Jerusalem Post reported that at the Ad Hoc Committee of the UN General Assembly the US, Britain, France and Turkey found themselves under strong Arab pressure and decided to withdraw their draft resolution on the implementation of the Blandford refugee plan. The Western delegates were now asking their governments for new instructions.
Israeli reaction to this decision was cautious. It was felt in Israel that as matters at the UN stood now, the prospects of peace in the Middle East or the solution of the refugee problem had not been brought any closer.
The Jewish Agency’s spokesman in Jerusalem told the press that the second conference of Jewish organizations was scheduled to meet in New York to take a final decision on reparations negotiations with Germany. The spokesman explained that after the decision of the Knesset, there was little doubt that the majority of Jewish organizations represented at the conference would support the stand of the Government of Israel.
A. Becker, the head of the Histadrut Trade Union Department, told the Teachers’ Conference in Tel Aviv that the Histadrut Executive would be unable to back their exaggerated wage demands. The Histadrut supported the grading of teachers in the Heh to Het categories of the civil service, but thought the higher grading was unjustified.
The 13th convention of Kupat Holim doctors in Haifa pointed out the scarcity of young doctors in rural areas, and the need to overcome this problem.
50 YEARS AGO
On January 18, 1967, The Jerusalem Post reported that prime minister Levy Eshkol told the Knesset that “the coming few days would tell whether the UN could succeed in restraining Damascus.” He added a warning, however, that it should be clear to the Syrians that if their aggression acts continued, Israel would react in accordance with the situation.
In Washington, the US State Department announced that it was maintaining high-level contact with both Israel and Syria and called for restraint.
The special meeting of the UN Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission agreed to deal exclusively with proposed practical arrangements on land cultivation in the Demilitarized Zones.
10 YEARS AGO
On January 18, 2007, The Jerusalem Post reported that top military officers praised IDF chief of staff Lt.Gen. Dan Halutz’s decision to resign, saying that it was the first step towards the complete rehabilitation of the IDF, following the failure and disappointing outcome of the summer’s war in Lebanon. Prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz decided not to resign from their posts and sought a suitable candidate to replace Halutz.
According to the Palestine Trade Center in Ramallah, Israel could generate $12 billion in annual trade with its Arab neighbors, including the Palestine Authority, and, through it, the Arab Free Trade Area: $7b. annually in exports to the Palestinians and another $5b. by dutyfree exports to the Arab Free Trade Area.
Hamas’s armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, launched its first English-language Web site. The group, which was responsible for dozens of suicide and rocket attacks against Israel, already had a web site in Arabic.
The criminal probe into Olmert’s role in the 2005 privatization of the controlling stake in Bank Leumi, which started the previous week, continued unabated.