Two Jewish ships will leave for Cyprus tomorrow to begin the transfer of some 25,000 Jewish detainees on the island to Israel early next week. A U.N. observer will be aboard one of the vessels. The decision to transfer the refugee immigrants followed receipt of a ruling by U.N. mediator Count Folks Bernadotte that the movement would be possible in the “immediate future.”
Since the beginning of the truce on June 10, British authorities on the island have prevented the detainees from leaving Cyprus on the grounds that this would constitute a violation of the cease-fire. Twelve Jews detained on Cyprus who required urgent medical care have also been barred from entering Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok arrived in Jerusalem today to discuss truce problems with Jewish authorities there. He met with Dr. Bernard Joseph, chairman of Jerusalem’s Jewish Emergency Committee, and Brig. Gen. David Shaltiel, Haganah area commander. It is understood that Shertok is anxious to obtain a clear picture of the present food, water and fuel supply difficulties for the city’s Jewish population.
FIRST CONVOY TO NEGEV COLONIES PASSES EGYPTIAN LINES
The first food convoy bound for the Jewish settlements in the Negev–consisting of 36 trucks loaded with foodstuffs and three buses with replacements–passed unmolested through the Egyptian lines south of Tel Aviv today.
The first immigrant vessel to enter Haifa port under Israeli rule arrived in Haifa today. The Italian ship, S.S. Campigdolio, brought more than 300 arrivals. Life In this city is back to normal again, following yesterday’s evacuation of the last British troops in Palestine.
Units of Fawzi el Kaukuki’s “Liberation Army,” concentrated in the Nablus-Jenin-Tulkarm triangle, again broke the truce in the Sejera area yesterday. This latest incident in a series of provocations in the Nazareth district lasted until the early hours today. It has been learned that Kaukuji, after the beating which his troops took at Mishmar Haemek, asked Transjordan’s King Abdullah for assistance in reforming his army. Abdullah is reported to have refused, after which Kaukuji turned to Syria for aid.
Israeli Justice Minister Felix Rosenblueth told a press conference today that his department is drafting a constitution based on the “most democratic and liberal constitutions” of the world. The document will also be modeled along U.N. principles. Research specialists are studying whether ancient Jewish law can be applied to modern times, he said. Legislation dealing with immigration, citizenship and elections will be promulgated very soon, he stated, and will give every Jew in the state Israeli citizenship. The Jewish state’s supreme judicial body will be appointed at the next session of the State Council.
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.
