FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On February 23, 1951, The Jerusalem Post reported that Gen. Sir Brian Robertson, who left Tel Aviv for Ankara, was understood to have been deeply impressed by what he saw and heard during his three-day visit to Israel. Among those with whom he talked during his stay here was Richard Ford, US chargé d’affaires, who called upon the British commander-in-chief accompanied by his military and air attachés. It was understood that no pacts were discussed with Robertson.
Both prime minister David Ben-Gurion and foreign minister Moshe Sharett reported on details of Robertson’s visit at the regular cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Ben-Gurion also reported on his visit to president Chaim Weizmann. The cabinet discussed the terms of settlement with the owners of the Haifa Refineries, and heard a report from Gershon Agron, the founder and first editor of the Post, on his work as director of the Government Information Services.
In Bonn, a Socialist bill handing to Israel the ownership of all unclaimed Jewish property in Western Germany was introduced in the Bonn Parliament by Prof. Carlo Schmidt. It was designed to redress moral obligations for the sufferings of Jewish victims of the Nazis and to recognize State of Israel, he said.
The transport of approximately 2,500 tons of potash stored at Sdom, which had been made available for local use, would begin with the completion of repairs to the old road which had suffered damage from the heavy rains. It was hoped that potash would reach farmers for spring farming. This would be the first consignment of potash from the Dead Sea works since the outbreak of hostilities in 1948.
50 YEARS AGO
On February 23, 1966, The Jerusalem Post reported that Syrian positions at Amrat As e-Din, east of Kibbutz Ha’on, near the southern tip of the Lake Kinneret, opened fire at an Israeli tractor which was on its way home, after ploughing a field inside Israeli territory, together with a group of Israeli tractors. The exchange of fire last over quarter of an hour and there were no Israeli casualties. A complaint was submitted to the Mixed Israel-Syrian Armistice Commission. [Syrian military posts overlooking the Lake Kinneret were liquidated in 1967.]
In Beirut, the board for the exploitation of the Jordan River and its tributaries began its 18th session under the chairmanship of Abdul Khalek Hassouna, secretary-general of the Arab League. The session studied the progress of work and surveys on diversion of the tributaries to the detriment of Israel.
The Public Transit Fares Authority reaffirmed its decision allowing the Dan Bus Cooperative a 14 percent fare increase and 10% to Egged and Hamekasher.
The IL100 million cut in the budget announced by prime minister Levi Eshkol, resulted in a surplus of IL 30m. transferred to the reserve.
10 YEARS AGO
On February 23, 2006, The Jerusalem Post reported that Jordan threatened to scale down its official ties with Israel after OC Central Command, Maj-Gen. Yair Naveh, warned earlier that King Abdullah II risked being toppled by an “Islamic axis” and could be the last Jordanian monarch. Naveh revealed that Global Jihad and Al-Qaida had stepped up their attempts to infiltrate Israel and were in close contact with Palestinian terror cells based in the West Bank.
In the past three weeks, 14 potential suicide bombers had been arrested by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in the West Bank. The majority were arrested in northern Samaria.
Tests were under way in Israel to determine whether samples of blood and saliva from livestock and dead wildfowl found in Gaza, received from Palestinian Authority officials, confirmed fears of a possible outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease and bird flu in Gaza.