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Haganah Repulses Arab Attack in Jerusalem; Two Jews Die in Battle Near Jaffa

December 24, 1947
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A new attack by a large band of Arabs attempting to storm their way out of the Old City of Jerusalem into the Jewish section was ##ulsed today by the Haganah. Two of the attackers were injured.

Two Jews were killed at the settlement of Bat Yam, south of Jaffa, in a battle which has continued intermittently for about a day and a half. The dead men are ##hak Mizrachi, 30, and Pinchas Reuben, 36. Several others were injured. Four Arabs were wounded when the Haganah threw back an attack on a Jewish house on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa border.

Meanwhile Arab attacks on road convoys continue, virtually paralyzing traffic between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Six Jews and one non-Jew were injured in an attack ## a British-escorted convoy in the vicinity of Ramleh. David Ben Gurion, who was in one of the cars, was unharmed. The non-Jew, Harold Hagge, is a Swedish correspondent. About a half-hour earlier, High Commissioner Sir Alan G. Cunningham, es?rted by a strong armored detachment, passed safely through the area.

Mourners at the funeral of Robert Stern, former Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, who was shot and killed by Arabs Sunday, were forced to run a gauntlet of fire as they motored up the Mount of Olives to the Jewish cemetery. Among the ##urners were a number of foreign correspondents and Richard Stubbs, head of the Palestine Information Office, in which Stern was employed at the time of his death.Several freight trains were held up by armed Arab bandits today. One was ##oted of a large quantity of cement, but the robbers were driven off before they could carry away anything from the second.

OVER 1,000 KILLED AND WOUNDED IN PALESTINE SINCE OUTBREAKS BEGAN

Official figures on casualties since the U.N. partition decision today passed ?,000 for killed and wounded. Private sources place the figures at 1,300. The government listed 134 Jews killed, 173 Arabs and nine Britons. Sixty members of the security forces were among the injured.

Jewish institutions today made representations to the government opposing the Jerusalem district commissioner’s suggestion that the Jewish merchants clear out of the business section, because it is “hard to protect.” The Jewish Agency has also turned down an unofficial suggestion that the Negev colonies, which are also “hard to protect,” be abandoned.

The Lebanese delegation which last week called on King Abdullah of Trans##rdan to enlist his support for the creation of a “Christian National Home” in ##banon, if and when a Greater Syria is established, has been placed under arrest in ##irut, it was learned here today. The head of the Maronite (Catholic) Church in ##ebanon, significantly, has been the one religious leader in the country not to issue statement opposing the partition of Palestine.

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