From Our Correspondent
JERUSALEM, Aug. 3
Date of Publication: August 4, 1948
Before leaving for Egypt to-day Count Bernadotte had warned the Premier of Transjordan, Abul Huda Pasha, that interference with the flow of water to Jerusalem constituted a severe breach of the cease-fire terms.
He added that, should the Arab Legion troops continue their stubborn refusal to permit the pumping of water from Rasel Ein to Jerusalem through Latrun—the only pumping station along the 40-mile pipe-line within range of their guns—he would be forced to report a breach of the truce to the United Nations Security Council.
Count Bernadotte, speaking to Press representatives in the French Consulate after a meeting with members of the truce commission and Dr. Bernard Joseph, the newly appointed military governor of Jewish Jerusalem, said that both the Jews and the Arabs were agreeable “in principle” to discuss his suggestions for demilitarizing Jerusalem.
Count Bernadotte intends to return to Jerusalem next week to work out the details of the scheme for demilitarizing the Holy City. Its main feature will be the disarming of all inhabitants of Jerusalem and the evacuation of all armed forces, leaving the city under the control of the United Nations. Truce observers will be recruited from the Belgian, French, and American armies, as their Governments’ representatives in Jerusalem form the truce commission. The demilitarization of Jerusalem is not dependent on arrangements for the future political status of the city, nor on the settlement of the other major problem that confronts the mediator – the distressed situation of Arab displaced persons.
An international police force of at least 2,000 men will be needed to enforce the demilitarization of Jerusalem. Count Bernadotte said to-day that the problem of administrative services in Jerusalem after demilitarization could be settled by a “temporary partition” of the city, the Jews to administer the Jewish parts and the Arabs to be responsible for the Arab parts. Should the negotiations fail to achieve demilitarization of the Holy City political talks for the solution of the Palestine problem would be continued.
Count Bernadotte is expected in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning, and in Haifa on Friday. A Cabinet committee of the Israelite provisional Government has arrived in Jerusalem for discussions on the future administration of Jewish civil affairs in the city. These may last several days.
