On the eve of the opening of the United Nations Assembly on Palestine, the Jews of Palestine–most of whom expect little from the U.N. deliberations–were faced with a threat of collective punishment if underground activity continues.
High Commissioner Sir Alan G. Cunningham tonight notified Mayor Israel Rokach of Tel Aviv that the next time a post office vehicle is stolen in any part of the country, the postal and telephone services in Tel Aviv, both of which are operated by the government, will be cut off.
Mayor Rokach immediately protested “this new form of collective punishment,” which makes Tel Aviv responsible for crimes which may be committed elsewhere. (A post office truck was used to smuggle in land mine which blasted the Sarona police barracks on Friday.)
The High Commissioner’s warning came on the heels of a denial by Jewish Agency circles of a report which has been circulating here for several days that it was drawing up a plan for complete cooperation with the government in suppressing terrorism. The Agency sources labelled the rumored plan “purely imaginative.”
The plan is allegedly to be approved at a meeting of the Agency executive tonight and is to be submitted to the government tomorrow. Unconfirmed rumore state that the government will make no political concessions to the Jewish community in return.
Government quarters insist that the Agency under took to draft the plan because it feared the effects of the reimposition of martial law on the community. They also assert that the Agency has already communicated the gist of the proposal to the government, which agreed not to place Tel Aviv under “control” following the explosion at the Sarona barracks.
It is learned that at last week’s meetings between High Commissioner Sir Alan G. Cunningham and David Ben Gurion and between Chief Secretary Sir Henry L. Gurney and Goldie Meirson, the government officials warned that in the event of further proclamations of martial law the military would not be responsible for the welfare of the Jews. Persistent rumors credit the military authorities with threatening to let the troops “blow off steam” in the event of further violence.
The government announced tonight that its budget for “security expenses” will be increased during the coming year from $25,000,000 to $30,000,000. This sum, all of which will be spent to finance the “anti-terrorist campaign,” will be obtained by increasing the government’s normal budget, 75 percent of which is contributed by the Jewish community.
EXTREMISTS REPORTED NEGOTIATING WITH ARABS FOR “ANTI-BRITISH FRONT”
Meanwhile, the Stern Group, which today admitted responsibility for the assessination yesterday in Heifa of A.E. Conquest, Acting Chief of the Criminal Ivestigating Department in that city, was reported today to be negotiating with an unnamed Arab group for a “united anti-British front.” The Irgun is also reported to be participating in the negotiations.
It is obviously impossible to secure confirmation of this report, but it is lent credence by the pamphlets distributed last night in Jaffa by the Sternists, in which they called on the Arabs to join in the fight against British imperialism. The Sternists have also taken pains to inform the Arab press that police have allegedly tortured two Arabs who were involved in the escape from jail of Geula Cohen, Sternist broadcaster.
An Irgun broadcast tonight devoted to the U.N. meeting warned that peace will not come to the Middle East until the British withdraw from Palestine and an independent Jewish state established. It said that the U.N. parley had one positive aspect, in that every nation would be forced to define its attitude towards Palestine.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
