FROM OUR ARCHIVES
50 YEARS AGO
On May 10, 1967, The Jerusalem Post reported that UN secretary-general U Thant temporarily gave up his attempts to bring back Israel and Syria to the negotiating table to settle their border differences. Instead he instructed Lt.-Gen. Odd Bull, chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, to “initiate as soon as possible separate discussions with each of the parties with a view to achieving an understanding on practical arrangements for cultivation problems along the Armistice Demarcation Line.”
Prime and defense minister Levi Eshkol told the press that in addition to the Chinese instructors training Syrian saboteurs in China, there were now Chinese instructors in Syria. Eshkol added that he was taking Syrian threats of a guerrilla campaign against Israel very seriously.
An additional anti-personnel mine was discovered not far from the spot where an explosive charge went off on the Rosh Pina-Tiberias highway. Saboteurs were planting mines on their lines of retreat.
Foreign minister Abba Eban told the press that Israel was seeking the strengthening of the armistice accords. He also warned Syria that it could not send marauders into Israel without risking an apt Israeli response.
In Nuremberg, an Israeli witnesses identified “good uncle Ipfling” as a “killer with a horse face,” a favorite chauffeur of the Nazi leaders.
25 YEARS AGO
On May 10, 1992, The Jerusalem Post reported that four members of the Palestinian team to bilateral peace talks with Israel had addressed a PLO meeting in Tunis, defying Israeli ban on contacts with their organization. Faisal Husseini, Hanan Ashrawi, Ghassan Khatib and Zahira Kamal traveled to Tunis secretly and reported to the PLO Central Council on their trip.
Representatives of world nations joined Israel and Arabs in Washington’s discussions of arms control, within the first multilateral working group session of the Middle East peace process.
The Foreign Ministry would have to ask for an additional budget supplement, if New York went ahead with plans to end the time-honored tradition of free parking for foreign diplomats. Israel’s 140 cars received 3,098 tickets in 1991, the most of any consulate. The Israeli UN Mission was ticketed 1,533 times.
A new US State Department report maintained that Israel’s overall settlement activity increased by 25% in 1991.
10 YEARS AGO
On May 10, 2007, The Jerusalem Post reported that vice premier Shimon Peres told prime minister Ehud Olmert that he would not seek the presidency, and would not cooperate with MKs seeking to topple Olmert and have Peres replace him.
For thousands of years, Beersheba had served as a rest stop for travelers across the desert, but it had now become a temporary home for 24 refugees fleeing Sudan. The Beersheba Municipality opened the city’s doors to the refugees, but only after they had been tossed back and forth by the police and IDF.
The state comptroller submitted the second half of his annual report on the functioning of the government and other publicly funded institutions and excoriated the army and government on a range of failures. The embassy in London was singled for improper hiring. The IDF failed to tackle threats of Kassam arms tunnels. Staffers at health funds abused National Insurance Institute moneys.
A Ramallah couple was arrested for selling underage daughters to two brothers. – Alexander Zvielli