Arab Army Surrounded in Mishmar Haemek Battle; Kaukuji Flees from Scene of Battle

Fawzi Kapkuji, commander of the Arab forces in Palestine, today fled the Mishmar Haemek battlefield to Amman, capital of Transjordan ### seek aid for his army of 1,500 men trapped by a superior Jewish force on the approaches to Jenin, northernmost strongpoint of the Jenin-Nablus-Tulkarm triangle ### which more than 7,000 foreign Arab troops are reported concentrated.

Kaukuji is said to have conferred with King Abdullah and asked that he order ##e Transjordan Arab Legion to invade Palestine and extend his control over the entire country. (In Cairo Transjordan’s Foreign Minister, Fawzi Mulki, indicated that the Transjordan Arab Legion would intervene in the conflict to rescue the surrounded Arab ##orrillas if they prove unable to break out of the Jewish trap.)The Arab army, which is believed to be Kaukuji’s main striking force–com##sed chiefly of Iraqi and Syrian volunteers–is reported completely surrounded just low the Arab village of Lajjun to which it was forced to retreat within the last to days following an unsuccessful week-long assault on Mishmar Haemek, southeast of ##ifa. The Haganah this afternoon occupied Lajjun, which is roughly halfway between ###shmar Heamek and Jenin.The condition of the trapped Arabs is growing worse hourly as the Jews use ?ptured enemy batteries to smash defensive points and roadblocks hastily erected by ?e guerrillas. As the battered flanks of Kaukuji’s army crumbles the road to Jenin ## opening up before the Jews.

JEWS WIN BATTLE FOR AMERICAN-BUILT CAMP; 21 ARABS KILLED

An American military mission, comprising a brigadier general and two colonnels, ##s arrived in Palestine to work out security measures for the U.S. consulate here, ### is reliably learned today. At the same time the American Consulate revealed that ###dda airport. The food provisions will be set aside for the consulate staff members ### the event of a food shortage.

The town of Tiberias as the entire region surrounding Lake Tiberias was today placed under a curfew with British troops standing guard around the Jewish ?arters of the town. The move followed the blasting of three Arab houses and the ###ling of one Arab by a Jewish military unit.

The Jewish section was in reprisal for the breaking of three-week truce in ?e city by a gang of Arabs who killed ten Jews and wounded 18 other in an attack last week. The Arabs insisted that the attack came from an outside bank of guerrillas ?t the Jews are convinced that the attack originated locally. In another attack on ?guerrilla force in a nearby village the Haganah killed eight armed Arabs.