FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion informed the Knesset that Israel had not signed the Geneva Convention against bacteriological warfare. When MK Israel Bar Yehuda of Mapam asked, “Why not?”, Ben Gurion replied “For the same reason that you never raised the question before.”
The secretary-general of the Central Labor Exchange, M. Gerzberg, informed The Jerusalem Post that there was the danger of a significant increase in unemployment at the end of June, when seasonal agricultural work would end. The average number of Israelis seeking work at labor exchanges was about 6,000. At the end of the citrus season an additional 12,000 were expected, but the number rose to only 7,500 since so many citrus pickers found temporary work in vegetable gardens. Gerzberg pointed out that there was no money to provide work for those who would be unemployed in July as the development budget had not yet been passed.
A sharp jump in electricity rates was announced by the Jerusalem Electric and Public Service Corporation. Domestic and commercial rates would rise 60% and industry rates would rise 60%. The authorities planned to limit the maximum amount of electricity that private individuals could use. Electricity consumed in excess of that amount would cost two or three times as much as the basic price.
50 YEARS AGO
Jordan demanded a UN investigation into treatment of Jordanians and Palestinians living in Israeli-occupied territory. The Jordanian government alleged that Israelis were forcing residents of the areas to flee by starving them. But International Red Cross delegates said they had no evidence of Israeli mistreatment of Arabs in the West Bank. According to Red Cross reports, these people had enough food and were given more if they needed it.
Commenting on reports of increased crossings by residents of the West Bank to Jordan, a Foreign Ministry spokesman declared that Israel’s policy “is not to encourage in any way any movement of population from the West Bank to Jordan. Every inhabitant who wishes to stay in his place of residence and to live in peace with his neighbors can do so.”
25 YEARS AGO
After the elections, Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin pledged to move immediately to promote the peace process, stop massive government investment in the territories, and repair US-Israeli relations. Rabin said his immediate goal was “advancing the peace talks first and foremost with the Palestinian delegation from the territories in the Madrid framework” and “to underline Israel’s international commitment under the Camp David Accords, to grant autonomy and selfrule to Palestinians in the territories.
If Rabin were to declare a total freeze on new housing in the territories, enough had already been built to absorb 35,000 new settlers by the end of the next year, according to the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
American-born Eddie Antar, once known as “Crazy Eddie,” New York’s electronics king , long sought by the US for stealing $53 million from unsuspecting investors, was arrested in Yavne. Antar had reportedly lived in Israel for several years under several identities. Detectives discovered $60,000 in various currencies and passports in several names. — Daniel Kra