Arabs Approached in Jerusalem for Truce Negotiations; Agency Clarifies Its Stand

Acting on the armistice call issued by the Big ##s, Richard Graves, British chairman of the municipality of Jerusalem, today took initiative and approached leaders of Jewish and Arab institutions with a view to## inducing them to agree to a truce.

Commenting on this move, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency said: “The Agency lady, nay, eager, to agree to a truce for any length of time on conditions which be discussed.However, it will not accept a truce which will rely solely on Arab ?ses and will in the meantime leave the Jews in Jerusalem, or in any other part the country, unprotected.”

The Jewish Agency inquiry committee which has been investigating the circum?ces surrounding the explosion Feb. 22 on Ben Yehuda Street here–which caused the ## of 56 Jews–today issued a ten-point report attributing the explosion directly ?ritons.

The report establishes that the armored car which was blown up was a police and that the trucks used in the blast were military vehicles. The setting off of ##osivee in one or more of these trucks, the report said, caused the casualties.The Jewish Agency inquiry committee also ascertained that the persons who ## seen in the trucks and in the police car were British that there is no evidence ##t Arabs were occupants of the vehicles; that it was possible for the police to ##vent the car from entering the area before the blast and it was also possible for ## to prevent the escape of the terrorists from Jerusalem after the explosion.

19 ARABS KILLED, MANY WOUNDED IN EXPLOSION; FOUR-HOUR BATTLE NEAR NAZARETH

Nineteen Arabs, believed to be Syrians, were killed and 36 wounded when an {SPAN}##{/SPAN} convoy, trying to break through a Jewish road block near Kiriyath Motzkin, was ?ed on by a Haganah force. An Arab truck in the convoy apparently filled with ex{SPAN}##sives, blew up, resulting in the casualties. The blast dug a crater 40 feet deep. military truck which arrived from the opposite direction was hurled over by the #ast. More than 30 Jews were reported injured and one killed.{/SPAN}A four-hour battle between Arabs and Jews took place today in the Nazareth {SPAN}##ea,{/SPAN} when a large unit of Arabs attacked Jewish settlers in the neighborhood of {SPAN}##th{/SPAN} Keshet. The settlement had been surrounded by about 300 Arabs until Jewish ?nforcements arrived and engaged the guerrillas. Casualties among the Arabs are ?lieved to be high.

Arabs today attacked Jewish convoys on the way to the Hadassah Hospital. After midnight, Haganah units penetrated the Arab village Castel, from which an Arab and conducted attacks on Jewish convoys between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.They smash## the inner defenses of the village, demolished the band’s headquarters and killed several of the terrorists.

Fifty-four Jews, including women, were released today from the Athlit detention camp, where several of the women had been confined for four years.

Dr. Fritz Bernstein, head of the Jewish Agency’s Department of Trade and Industry, told a press conference in Tel Aviv last night that the Agency is speeding up ##lans to create a monetary system for the Jewish state that would be based on the American dollar. Dr. Bernstein said that Soviet Russia is ready to establish trade negotiations with the Jews of Palestine. He also reported that a recent statistical survey disclosed that not only was there no economic crisis in Jewish Palestine, but there was actually a shortage of manpower.