Arabs Open Artillery Fire on Several Jewish Positions in Jerusalem and Vicinity

For the first time since the second truce began in Jerusalem nearly three weeks ago, the explosion of shells was today added to the constant crackling of rifle fire and the bursting of grenades and mortars. Arab guns shelled the Jewish Musrara quarter and Arab automatic gunfire sprayed a Jewish building opposite the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, according to an official Israeli any report.

The Arab Legion shelled Jewish positions on Mt, Zion, while Egyptian troops in the village of Sur Bahir, south of the city, opened fire against Jewish positions in Ramath Rachel, which dominates the road from Bethlehem. Last night Arab Legion artillery opened fire on Jewish positions at Har Tuv, on the main highway west of Jerusalem, killing at least one Jewish soldier.

A scheduled meeting between the Israeli commandant, Col. Moshe Dayan, and Col, Abdullah el Tel, Arab Legion commander, was called off today. They were to have at with U.N. observers to discuss cease-fire violations. Dayan, who was called away to another meeting in Tel Aviv, said that he would like the parley held at a later time.

(At a press conference in Amman, Transjordan, today, King Abdullah indicated that he is willing to consider a compromise settlement of the Palestine problem. Any compromise that secures justice and halts unnecessary bloodshed would not be sloughed off by him, he stressed. However, the King stipulated that he would like to see the efforts of Count Bernadotte in behalf of the Arab refugees from Palestine first crowed with success and “afterwards” any proposals which the mediator makes for a final solution of the Palestine issue will not be rejected outright, but will first be weighed and discussed.)

Menachem Beigin, once Palestine’s most hunted underground leader for whom the British had offered a $10,000 reward, followed up his first public appearance here last night at a political rally by staging a public military review of the Irgun. Addressing the Irgun parade in the southern part of this city, Beigin told 500 of his armed troops that they will remain a separate organization in Jerusalem until the city is incorporated into the state of Israel and becomes its capital.