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British Expel Overseas News Agency Correspondent from Palestine; No Explanation Given

October 24, 1945
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Constantine Poulos, a war correspondent of the Overseas News Agency, was expelled from Palestine today by British authorities, apparently because the one dispatch he filed since arriving here seven days ago displeased them.

Poulos was summoned by the British public relations officer this morning and informed that orders had been received from British headquarters in Cairo that be was “personna non grata” in Palestine. At the same time, the American public relations office in Caire telephoned the American consulate here and asked them to instruct Poulos that his travel orders for Palestine had been cancelled and that he was to leave immediately. The British authorities offered Poulos no explanation.

(The ONA announced today that it has asked the War Department to investigate why Poulos’ travel orders were ordered revoked by Major General Benjamin Franklin Giles, United States Army commander in the Middle East.)

The one story Poulos had sent from Palestine compared the situation there to that prevailing in Greece just prior to the outbreak of violence. He cited the presence of large numbers of British troops, the British armored cars racing through the streets and the sporadic clashes between Jews and the police and military.

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