A meeting of striking Arab dock workers at Jaffa today warned High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope to halt the unloading of steamers at the neighboring all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv or they would not be responsible for the results.
Meanwhile, unloading of cargoes at Tel Aviv continued without interruption following inauguration of the new port yesterday. Dredging for a permanent harbor, to make Tel Aviv independent of Jaffa, was authorized when Jewish importers, hampered by the strike in the Arab city, demanded a new harbor be constructed for the city.
Accompanied by doctors, 75-year-old Mayor Dizengoff, who left his sick-bed at the Hadassah Hospital for the opening ceremonies yesterday, again visited the waterfront to watch the unloading activities and was greeted by storms of cheers.
Earlier in the day, fighting broke out among Arab dockworkers in Jaffa harbor when, in defiance of the Arab Supreme Council’s orders, they invaded the dock area and insisted on returning to work. Strike leaders rushed to the scene and pacified the demonstrators.
Great excitement marked the unloading yesterday of the first steamer to use Tel Aviv as a harbor in place of nearby Jaffa.
With thousands watching and cheering, a freighter from Yugoslavia discharged its cargo of 3,200 tens of cement. The first bag of cement to be taken off the steamer onto lighters was presented to the Tel Aviv museum.
Mayor Dizengoff, who earlier had been reported given a transfusion at the Hadassah Hospital, was the center of a tremendous ovation. He had disobeyed the stern warnings of his doctors and had left the hospital to attend the unloading ceremonies.
Mayor Dizengoff’s dramatic entrance on the scene was greeted with wild cheers and shouts of “Long Live Dizengoff Harbor.”
Addressing the crowd, the mayor declared: “We shall have a large harbor here.”
After unloading the steamer, the stevedores were taken in lorries through the streets of the city and given stormy ovations.
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