Palestine Govt. Denies It Will Transfer Assets to Britain, but Confirms Sale of Haifa Land

The Palestine Government today issued an official communique denying that assets of the government would be transferred to Britain prior to withdrawal from the country, but confirming its intention of selling valuable waterfront property in Haifa. The communique reads as follows:

“There can be no question of transferring assets from the Palestine Government to His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom for their benefit. It may be accepted that these assets would be transferred to whatever authority assumes the Palestine Government’s liabilities.

“With regard to the Haifa harbor estate, the Palestine Government has decided to realize this asset for the purpose of relieving the budgetary situation, and present market conditions appear to justify this action. The decision to invest in the United Kingdom the balance of Palestine bearer bond issues is designed primarily to secure the interest of bondholders and is in accordance with the provisions of ordinance under which these bonds were issued.”

Commenting on the Government’s statement, a Jewish Agency spokesman said that liquidation of the assets, not transfer,” was the issue. It is reported that all the government departments recently received instructions to prepare lists of objects and instruments that might be deemed convertible into cash. The reason, it is believed, is that the British want to realize as much cash as possible in order to be able to use that surplus for bargaining purposes with the successor states.

The spokesman differed sharply with the assertion that the Government’s decision to invest in Palestine bonds in Britain “is in accordance with the provisions of those ordinances under which these bonds were issued.” He said the British may have a case as regards the first three issues of Palestine bearer-bonds but not in the case of the fourth and last (amounting to close to four million dollars) which does not contain the provisions referred to. In any case, he added, all four loans were issued with the specific stipulation that the proceeds would be invested in Palestine.

Meanwhile, it is learned that one quarter of the government’s employees have already received dismissal notices, effective Nov. 28. They have been offered positions with the British administration in Kenya at twice their present salaries.

A military spokesman today denied reports that the evacuation of British troops from Palestine has already started. The report was carried in a Jerusalem dispatch to the London Times, which also stated that the evacuation would take five months and its speed would force Britain to leave behind large quantities of supplies.

Preparations for the fifth session of the Assefath Hanivcharim, the Jewish National Assembly, were launched today with the first meeting of the elections board, which will promulgate the rules and regulations governing the polling for the body. The Revisionists, Agudas Israel, Sephardic Community and Farmers Bloc, all of which boycotted the last elections, have been invited to send representatives to the election board. The date of the elections will be set after adjournment of the U.N. Assembly.