FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On February 21, 1952, The Jerusalem Post reported that the government obtained a 55-44 confidence vote at the close of the three-day Knesset debate on its New Economic Policy. The opposition’s non-confidence vote was defeated by 59-44 votes.
Commerce and industry minister Dov Joseph met with Arie. Shenkar, president of the Manufacturers Association, to discuss the allocation of new stocks and their respective prices, while ministry inspectors continued to inspect, check and register all available stocks from shops to warehouses.
The Finance Ministry announced the issue of two million 50-mil and 100-mil paper banknotes, with the Beit Alfa synagogue mosaic floor pictured on one side. (One Israeli pound was 1,000 mils.)
It was reliably understood in London that March 17, 1952, had been provisionally fixed as the date of the beginning of the German-Jewish talks, and that Belgium was a likely site. There would be in fact two distinct sets of negotiations, although both would be based on the previous year’s statement of the Israeli government, claiming $1.5 billion from Germany, of which two-thirds would fall to Bonn’s Federal Republic account.
Stanley Andrews, special adviser of the US State Department on Point 4 aid affairs, arrived in Tel Aviv, and was met by Bruce McDaniel, the US grant-in-aid administrator. Both were expected to discuss the extent of American aid to Israel with the appropriate Finance and Agriculture ministry officials.
50 YEARS AGO
On February 21, 1967, The Jerusalem Post reported that Gen. Odd Bull, UNTSO chief of staff in Jerusalem, was flying to Damascus to confer with top Syrian officials on the matter of reconvening the special meeting of the UN Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission on border land cultivation. He expected to meet the Syrian chief-of-staff.
The split in the Herut political party, which began at the previous year’s party convention, when Herut’s “New Bloc” claimed independence within Gahal in the Knesset and in the Histadrut, had ended in a complete split from Menachem Begin’s Herut, with the emergence of Shmuel Tamir’s “New Bloc” as a separate political party.
The families of Shmuel Mor and Maxim Gilan, editors of Bul magazine, who were recently sentenced to one year in prison for security offences, announced that they would apply to the president for pardon.
25 YEARS AGO
On February 21, 1992, The Jerusalem Post reported that two Israeli soldiers, Capt. Eran Alkawi, 24, from Rishon Lezion, and combat engineer Sgt. Ran Inbar, 22, from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, were killed and three wounded in fierce fighting with Muslim gunmen, after troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships punched north of the Israeli security zone in South Lebanon to attack Hezbollah targets. The force involved, the IDF spokesman said, would remain in the area for a limited time, and when the operation was completed would return to its base.
In Washington, the Bush administration expressed “grave concern” over the military activity in South Lebanon and called on high-level Israeli, Syrian and Lebanese officials “to urge the maximum of restraint in order to bring violence to the end.” The inclusion of Syria in the message of the US protest indicated a clear recognition of Syrian domination over the Lebanese government.
Prime minister Yitzhak Shamir took over half of the Likud leadership ballot, leaving foreign minister David Levy and housing minister Ariel Sharon far behind. Out of the 84% of the vote known before counting was completed, Shamir had 46%, Levy 31%, and Sharon was trailing third with 23%.