Violence continued in Palestine today while dissatisfaction with the United States proposal for abandonment of partition by the United Nations mounted throughout the Jewish community.
Six Jews, including two young children, were killed today when Arabs blew up the Solel Boneh building in Haifa. Early reports said that 14 Jews were hospitalized and 22 were injured slightly by the blast, while eight buildings were damaged and 21 vehicles destroyed by the force of the explosion.
A few minutes before the explosion, an Arab was seen leaving a big truck ?erked in front of the building. It is believed to have been filled with 400 pounds of explosives. Haganah men immediately sounded an alarm, but before the building and its immediate vicinity could be evacuated, the truck blew up. Fires broke out in surrounding buildings and several heavy trucks in the area were also set afire by the last.
Meanwhile, a uniformed band of 500 Arabs attacked a Jewish convoy near Bat el ?ad. One Jew was killed and one truck was completely demolished in the attack. A large Arab force attacked the colony of Motza, about six miles from Jerusalem and one of the oldest Jewish settlements in the Hebron Hills. Haganah defenders reported they inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, but lost three men in the fighting.
Five Jews were believed killed when a mine blew up under an armored bus in which they were driving from Safad to Rosh Pina. Hartov, about 15 miles west of Jerusalem, was attacked again today for the third successive day.
Within the past 24 hours Arab bands have attacked a Jewish convoy near Bet Kaballah; a Jewish convoy headed for the Hadassah hospital on Mt. Scopus, Kibbutz Maapil, near Qaqun, “in which heavy machinegun fire was exchanged for seven consecutive hours; a Jewish armored car near Rishon LeZion; Mekor Haim; Kfar Yechezkiel, in which between 600 and 800 Arabs participated; Kfar Darom, Kfar Blum and Bet Shugerman.
Three British police deserters seized in an Arab attack last week on Neve Jacob will be tried aboard the British vossel, Empire Best, for fear of possible Jewish attempts to abduct the Britons, it was learned here.
BEN GURION REJECTS TRUSTEESHIP; SAYS JEWS WILL DEFEND THEIR TO STATE
Meanwhile, a Jewish Agency representative today told a press conference that a Jewish state already exists and international recognition will come in the future, He added that partition was never an academic issue but a realistic one, and that the “central government is in liquidation and its prerogatives have been taken over by Arabs in the Arab parts of the country and by Jews in the Jewish parts.”
His statement followed on the heels of anti-American demonstrations in Tel Aviv by dissident elements who also called on the members of the Jewish Agency executive to resign, and after a statement by David Ben Gurion last night in which he rejected trusteeship and emphasized that the Jews would continue to defend their state.
“It is we who will decide the fate of Palestine,” Ben Gurion declared. “We Can not agree to any sort of trusteeship, permanent or temporary. The Jewish state existes because we defend it. Only by our strength, if we are already and have enough time to use it in full, “he continued, “Will the Jewish state be established.”
He insisted that the first problem facing the Jews was security, then establishment of a state and, finally, the reaching of an accord with the Arabs. Referring to the long-range effects of the American proposal, the Agency chairman ?serted that it Is more harmful to the U.N. and its prestige than to the Jews. He also warned the British that the Jews would act quickly and vigorously if the Manda?ry showed signs of failing to withdraw from Palestine as it had announced.
DISSIDENTS STAGE ANTI-AMERICAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN TEL AVIV
Tel Aviv last night was the scene of a number of anti-American demonstrations by the Sternists and the Irgunists. The dissidents coupled their anti-American slogans ?th demands that the members of the Jewish Agency executive, who “brought us to this ?yss,” resign. They also demanded that a constituent assembly be convened immediately to annul the Agency’s consent to partition and proclaim the “sacredness of an un?vided Palestine.” They also called for the establishment of a united Jewish military organization.
Although the comment in Jewish circles varied, nowhere was there any serious talk of compromise. Various Jewish loaders, including Jewish National Council chairman David Remez, expressed confidence that the Jews would rally from this blow and go on to establish and defend their state. A Haganah statement said that the Jews knew all the time that their state would be built “with the might of our creation and the ?force of our defense” rather than by the efforts of outsiders. The resistance movement’s statement also emphasized that the Jews would find a way to reach an understanding with the Arabs.
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.
