From A Zionist Correspondent
Jerusalem, July 22, 1948
Date of Publication: July 23, 1948
Jewish and Arab commanders, at a formal meeting presided over by the chairman of the United Nations truce committee and in the presence of the mediator’s chief observer, have signed an agreement regarding the demarcation of a “no-man’s-land” on the Jerusalem front.
The meeting was held in an unoccupied house between the Jewish and Arab lines in Suleiman’s way, adjoining the ancient city wall near the Damascus Gate. A gentleman’s agreement was also reached that, should the present truce end, six hours’ notice will be given for both sides to return to positions abandoned in certain regions where fighting was particularly fierce and sniping continues after the cease fire order, in order to establish a viable “no-man’s-land.”
*Brigadier David Shaltiel, the Israelite defence army commander in the Jerusalem district, and Colonel Abdullah Bey Tel, the Arab Legion commander, agreed to refrain from building any additional fortifications during the cease-fire period and undertook to control their respective forces and withdraw them from certain houses, thus minimizing the possibilities of sniping and provoking hostilities. Later the commanders visited sectors of the battlefield in St. George’s Road, near the cathedral, and endorsed maps demarcating the Jewish and Arab positions.*[1]
The commanders and their aides conducted their negotiations in English. A similar meeting between the Jewish and Egyptian commanders concerning the southern sector of the Jerusalem front, stretching from the former Government House to the Ramat Rachel settlement has been arranged. Efforts to arrange a meeting between the Arab Legion, the Egyptian army and Israelite army commanders have so far failed.
[1] This paragraph was added to the second edition of the article. Unknown as to whether it was an evening print or added by someone else after submission. See last page for notes.
