By April 27, 2008 Read More →

Jews Demand Extension of Boundaries, Associated Press, The Baltimore Sun, July 30, 1948.

Moshe ShertokVictories Justify Additional Territory, Shertok Asserts

Tel Aviv. Palestine, July 29 (AP) Moshe Shertok. Foreign Minister of Israel, said tonight the Jews would seek additional territory in Palestine as a result of Israeli victories over the Arab armies.

At the same time a Cabinet source said the Israeli Government has rejected Count Folke Bernadotte’s demilitarization seems for Jerusalem but told the United Nations mediator it is willing to discuss the matter further if he publicly renounces his original plan to put the holy city under Arab rule.

The Israeli Army was particularly vehement against the original Bernadette proposal. The attitude of Jewish military leaders was- “We’ve already won Jerusalem from the Arabs. Why should we give it up?”

Reopen Entire Issue

The Israeli Cabinet was said to have flatly rejected the demilitarization scheme because it prefers to reopen the entire issue of Jerusalem’s status.

Sheritok demand a reconsideration of all the boundaries set last November 29 under the United Nations partition plan and said this was made necessary “because of the course of events since these.”

“The Arabs are responsible.” Shertok into the Israeli state council, “that the boundaries fixed by the United Nations no longer are practical and we most insist on changing them by adding territories and not by diminishing them.”
Millions In Indemnities

Shertok called for “heavy indemnities” against the Arabs in peace negotiations for what he termed “hundreds of millions of dollars lost by direct war expenses.”

The Israeli official also said his Government would refuse in take Jewish arms and men out of Jerusalem, but would take immediate steps to put the holy city under Israeli sovereignty.

Shertok said Israeli authorities would refuse to permit the return of any of the 300,000 Arab refugees to their Palestinian homes until their status could be considered as part of a minority question including the status of Jews in Arab countries.
Two Separate Countries

The United Nations partition plan, bitterly opposed by the Arab states, divided Palestine into two separate countries, one Jewish and one Arab. Jewish authorities accepted the partition scheme.

It provided for-

A Jewish state covering about 5,000 square miles with 940,000 inhabitants, some 402,000 of them Arabs.

An Arab state covering 4,700 square miles with 813,000 inhabitants, about 10,000 of them Jews.

The internationalized city of Jerusalem covering a 78-square-mile area embracing 205,000 residents, 105,000 Arabs and 100,000 Jews.

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