55 years ago/June 28, 1967

Gideon Rafael, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN in a letter to the UN Secretary-General informed him – and asked him to circulate the letter – about Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s statements on the previous day, June 27. In an interview with television stations Eshkol practically repeated the land for peace idea. He said, the Arab countries had tried war, they should have tried peace. He suggested direct negotiations without mediation. He also said that Jews and Arabs could live together, what the Arab inhabitants of Israel proved. He also talked about the “exemplary attitude” of their “officers and soldiers towards the prisoners of war”, “that the life in the areas captured by the Israel Defence Forces” was “returning to normal”, and reiterated that Israel “made arrangements to assure free access to the Holy Places to all who wish to worship there”. At the end he told: “Our hand is extended in peace to all who are ready for peace.” Eshkol’s other statement was made to the leaders of religious communities and it stated again that the Holy Places in Jerusalem were open, and free access to them provided. Israel also promised that they would consult with the heads of the religious communities regularly. The Representative of Yugoslavia to the UN, Danilo Lekić introduced a draft resolution of non-aligned countries to the fifth emergency special session of the UN General Assembly. This draft resolution focused mainly on the withdrawal of the Israeli troops into their positions they held prior to June 5.