United Nations truce observation headquarters in Palestine has cabled the Security Council charging that the Egyptians are responsible for the outbreak of the current fighting in the Negev, the Hebrew press here reported.
An Israeli spokesman today announced only minor fighting in the Negev, although he spoke of some air activity by both sides. He announced that there were a number of clashes by land forces, including tanks, in the vicinity of Nirim. He asserted that it was fairly quiet in the Faluja sector, where some 2,000 Egyptians have been encircled by Israeli forces for a number of weeks. In Jerusalem all was calm, with both sides rigidly observing the local truce.
The official Israeli reports contrasted rather sharply with Arab reports of heavy action in the Negev. The Transjordan-controlled Ramallah radio spoke of the “fiercest battle ever fought in Palestine,” while other Arab sources stated that a strong Jewish commando force had raided a major Egyptian supply base at Rafa, in the southern Negev, and had blown up Arab ammunition dumps and demolished military installations there.
A country-wide blackout was reimposed last night following air raids in the Gaza, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth and Jericho areas. There was another air alert here today, as well as in several other vital areas. Yesterday, Arab planes driven away from Haifa and Nazareth by Israeli anti-aircraft fire, blasted a children’s village near Nazareth and killed three children and wounded five.
An Israeli spokesman this week-end said that he understood that the entire U.N. observation system in the south is being overhauled. He said that there are no U.N. observers with the Jews at present.
(Reuter’s reported tonight that British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin interrupted his Christmas holiday to confer with Foreign Office experts on the renewed fighting in the Negev. Bevin was said to be studying reports that the Arab League will call for a general renewal of the war in Palestine.)
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.
