UNESCO vote
the year.) So we had no choice but to speak Hebrew to each other.
In any case, Allon at the time was minister of immigrant absorption, and one day he came to visit.
I vividly remember how a young lady who somehow managed to leave her native Egypt described how she had been studying Arabic literature at the university in Cairo, and because she was unable to obtain transcripts of her academic record, she was finding it difficult to be admitted to an Israeli university to continue her studies. Allon listened attentively and asked one of his assistants to see what could be done to relieve the student’s plight.
I don’t know what happened in the end, but Allon’s sincere concern made a deep impression upon me, and I, too, have always thought of him as a mensch. DAVID WILK Ma’aleh Adumim
With regard to “Turning the tide in UNESCO” (Editorial, May 3), where was UNESCO when Jordan, which illegally held east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967, was destroying ancient synagogues and desecrating graves? Where was the UN when, in spite of an official truce, Jordanian snipers were shooting at Jews from the walls of the Old City?
Why is Israel not going on a diplomatic offensive and going to the UN to claim compensation from Jordan and the other Arab countries that illegally invaded in 1948 for damages done to historical and cultural sites? YEHUDIT COLLINS
Jerusalem
Your May 3 editorial on UNESCO was very good, insightful and to the point. There is only one correction. You write: “The city [Jerusalem] is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible.”
In fact, the city’s name is mentioned 667 times in the Bible – 641 times in Hebrew and 26 times in Aramaic. Furthermore, it is the only city in the world whose name was given by God Himself (Midrash).
With the 50th Jerusalem Day on the way, this information would have been helpful. SHOLOM GOLD Jerusalem The writer is a rabbi. THIS ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE in east Jerusalem’s City of David is still an active dig and also a tourist attraction. UNESCO’s resolution, passed this week, calls for the cessation of such works in the capital as it rejected Israel’s sovereignty over the city.