The U.S. Is Annoyed

As U.S. schoolboys fondly recite Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death," so Israeli schoolboys like to declaim the Psalmist's powerful text: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

The end of the Arab war in 1948 left the Israelis with only a tantalizing toe hold in Jerusalem. The Arab Legion held the Old City. Since then, the U.N. in three separate resolutions has urged that the entire city be internationalized. But as the Israelis learned during their war for independence, one fait accompli is worth a dozen U.N. resolutions. They set out to make the toe hold a foothold.

First the government moved some of its smaller departments from the capital of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Then the Knesset (parliament) itself quit the Tel Aviv movie theater where it had been meeting, and moved to Jerusalem, even though Jerusalem is on the fringe of the country. In 1950, the Knesset proclaimed Jerusalem Israel's capital.

But it wasn't quite. The Knesset hesitated to move the Foreign Ministry to Jerusalem lest foreign diplomats, abiding by the U.N. resolutions, refuse to follow. That would raise the question of Israel's legal right to take over the Holy City.

Three months ago, Israel announced that its Foreign Ministry would move to Jerusalem "before winter." The U.S. State Department, which always treats Israel with the greatest tenderness, especially in election years, demurred this time--in an aide-memoire which both sides agreed to keep from the press. An Israel spokesman brazenly announced that the U.S. had in effect approved Jerusalem's status as capital of Israel.

This was too much, even for the State Department, and even in an election year. It released the text of the aide-memoire: "The Government of the United States continues to adhere to the policy that there should be a special international regime for Jerusalem . . . Consequently, the U.S. Government . . . has no present intentions of transferring the Ambassador and his staff to Jerusalem." Britain, France, Italy, Turkey and Australia announced that they felt the same way. Their objections disturbed but did not stop the Israelis. Last week, the Holy City resounded to the hammering of workmen putting up prefab huts to house Israel's Foreign Ministry.

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