Athlit Camp Emptied As Government Turns over Last Nine Internees to Jewish Agency

Nine internees in the Athlist clearance camp, all that remained following the escape of 208 “illegal immigrants” last week, were placed in the custody of the Jewish Agency today by the Palestine Government, emptying the camp.

At the same time, the Government notified the colonies of Yagur and Beth Oren that they would be summoned shortly to appear before an administrative court because of their defiance of an ultimatum to surrender organizers of the Athlit break, and some of the fugitives, who are believed to be hiding in the two settlements. The ultimatum, which expired last night, warned the colonists of collective punishment, if they persisted in their refusal to surrender the fugitives.

The Hebrew paper Hamashkiff, commenting today on the measures being taken by the authorities to prevent Jewish immigration, published statistics, based on Government data, showing that in the past 25 years 260,000 Arabs have illegally entered Palestine.

As an aftermath of last Monday’s general strike, 15 Jews in Jerusalem’s central prison were notified today that they will have three days added to their terms for refusing to work while the strike was in progress.

IRAQ JEWS FORM ANTI-ZIONIST LEAGUE; BELIEVED COERCED BY GOVT.

The Arab News Agency reports today from Baghdad that a group of Iraquian Jews have formed an anti-Zionist league, and sent a delegation to Premier Nuri Pasha to voice their opposition to Zionism. Informed observers here, who have been watching the steady delerioration of the position of the Jews in Iraq in recent years, point out that the formation of the anti-Zionist group is undoubtedly a result of government pressure.

The anti-Jewish sentiment among Iraq’s ruling group, which reached its height in the massacres in Baghdad during the pro-Nazi revelt led by Rashid Ali el Gailani in 1942, manifests itself in various ways, including the refusal to allow transit across Iraq, even by plane, to Jews of any nationality, and its rigid regulations designed to keep native Jews from emigrating to Palestine. When an Iraquian Jew leaves the country, he must deposit with the Government several thousand pounds as a guarantee that he will return. If he should fail to do so, all his property is confiscated and his relatives penalized.

The Jaffa Arabic daily Al Difaa, repeating the story that the late President Roosevelt pledged Ibn Saud that he would not support the Zionists, reports today from Cairo that the ruler of Saudi Arabia has sent a note to the American minister there, declaring that he will make public the minutes of the conversations between him and Mr. Roosevelt, if the U.S. “persists in supporting Zionism.” The note, which the report says has already been dispatched to Washington, is also understood to contain a warning that Saudi Arabia will break off relations with the U.S., if it continues to antagonize the Arabs.