Full agreement on the composition of the provisional Jewish Government was reached here after midnight at a joint meeting of leaders of the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Council which lasted several hours.
The agreement provides the formation of a 13-meaber Cabinet to include four members of the Jewish Labor Party (Mapai); two members of the United Labor Party, which is comprised of Hashomer Hatzair and L’Achdut Avodah; two General Zionists; ? Mizrachi, one Agudist one Revisionist, one Mizrachi laborite and one representative of the Aliyah Hadashah.
The meeting did not ratify the pact between the Haganah and the Irgun which was reached by representatives of both groups after prolonged negotiations. The ratification was postponed for a day at the request of Isaac Gruenbaum, member of Jewish Agency executive.
The Hashomer Hatzair and the L’Achdut Avodah today delivered an ultimatum declaring that they will not enter the Jewish Cabinet if the Haganah-Irgun pact is ratified. Ratification is, nevertheless, expected within a day or two since the majority of the Jewish Agency executive and of the Jewish National Council favor ?ity among the Jewish resistance forces.
An announcement by the Palestine authorities that postal service will be suspended for the Jewish areas in the country because of the “physical impossibility” ?o maintain such a service, was severely criticized today by the Jewish Agency as a “unilateral and vindictive measure.” The Agency will endeavor to establish its own service, it was indicated. The Palestine Postmaster General “explained” his announcement, declaring that “Jews are stealing postal vans,” making postal operations
Dr. J.L. Magnes, head of the Ihud group which favors Arab-Jewish conciliation, today denied reports from Cairo that representatives of his group have approached ex-Mufti of Palestine regarding the possibility of a compromise In Palestine.
“I am wholeheartedly far this, but neither I nor any member of the Ihud in Jerusalem or Cairo negotiated with the Arab executive,” Dr. Magnes said. At the same time the Ihud issued a call today to Jews and Arabs in Palestine to lay down their arms. “Only through a true understanding can we build up the whole Holy ?and,” the declaration said.
The U.N. Palestine commissions advance party received the press yesterday at the group’s two-story headquarters near the King David Hotel here. Pablo Ascarate, head of the advance party, said the group’s mission is designed to secure a continuity of services when the Mandate ends. He added that contact between the U.N. party and the Palestine Government and the Jewish Agency had already been made and that the U.N. representatives had begun to study various aspects of the Palestine problem.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
