Violations of holy places – Chair of SecCo Truce Commission – Cablegram

UNITED NATIONS

Department of Public Information

Press and Publications Bureau

Lake Success, New York

Press Release PAL/343

18 October 1948

CABLEGRAM DATED 16 OCTOBER 1948 FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE

TRUCE COMMISSION ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE

SECURITY COUNCIL CONCERNING VIOLATIONS OF THE

HOLY PLACES BY JEWISH AND ARAB FORCES IN JERUSALEM

"Free access to the Holy Places of Jerusalem as determined by the status quo and prescribed by various resolutions of the Security Council is obstructed in certain cases and totally debarred in others.

"This state of affairs is due not only to the extreme tension prevailing between the opposed parties but also to the deliberate intention of both of them.

"While the Arabs obstruct access by foreign Christians to the Christian Holy Places and totally debar Jews, even under United Nations escort, from visiting the Wailing Wall, the Jews rigidly debar Christian residents in the zone under their control from visiting the Holy Places situated in the Arab-controlled zone.

"The Truce Commission wishes to draw the Security Council's attention to these infringements of rights universally respected for centuries, which are the primary cause of the anxiety aroused throughout the world by the situation in Jerusalem.

"The Truce Commission also wishes to draw the Security Council's attention to the violations of the Christian Holy Places which have taken place in the Jewish-controlled zones and to those committed by the Arabs in the Jewish quarter of the Old City occupied by them last May.

"Signed:  Rene Neuville

Chairman of the Truce Commission."

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