FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
Stalling of virtually all transport, public and private, throughout the country was foreshadowed for the next day, Saturday, as travel restrictions came into effect. The paralysis was about to set in not so much as a direct result of the Government’s new regulations, but rather of the decision of organized taxi drivers to choose Friday and Saturday as their days of “rest,” an effort to reduce fuel demand in the country. Private vehicles were permitted to choose one other day, in addition to Shabbat, to keep their vehicles idle, while taxis had the choice of any two days. Except in Haifa, buses did not travel on Shabbat. Trains were also idle on Saturdays. The Communications Ministry warned taxi drivers that it would “draw the necessary conclusions at the proper time” from their decision to choose almost unanimously the same days. A spokesman for the ministry said that the drivers “are not worthy of the trust shown them by the government.”
The Health Ministry would begin sending physicians to North Africa and Persia to examine potential immigrants. Only those with health certificates signed by the ministry’s doctors would be given visas. Until then the Jewish Agency assigned local doctors to perform examinations. The ministry’s physicians would also reorganize the health service for potential immigrants in order to cure those suffering infectious diseases in their country of origin before emigrating.
50 YEARS AGO
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that the Israeli government had granted it “a general authorization to move freely throughout all territory under Israel control.”
The day before, Jordan closed the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River and said it was refusing to accept any more refugees from Israeli-occupied territory. “We cannot possibly afford any more refugees,” a Jordanian spokesman said. “We had to do something to stop them.” But later it was announced that the bridge would open again the next day. The same spokesman said: “We tried our best to stop the flow of refugees, but it is impossible.” Refugees had been streaming across the war-damaged bridge at the rate of about a thousand a day since the war ended two weeks earlier.
15 YEARS AGO
Anxious to avoid another standoff with trapped Palestinian gunmen, the IDF used helicopters, sniper fire and relatives to coax the remaining fugitives out of Hebron’s Imara government complex. The takeover of the city and surrounding villages netted dozens of fugitives suspected of being engaged in or planning terrorist attacks. The army also confiscated hundreds of bombs and other weapons. The IDF intended to enforce a strict curfew on the city and surrounding villages as long as the gunmen inside the buildings refused to surrender. “This isn’t Bethlehem II,” Lt.-Col. David Bloomenfeld said, referring to the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. “The Imara may be a symbol that is getting more attention that it merits. There are other fugitives in Hebron, and we will get hold of them too.” Hebron was the seventh Palestinian city taken by the IDF as part of Operation Determined Path, launched a week earlier in a fresh crackdown on terrorism. – Daniel Kra