The British Government is still delaying action on formation of a Jewish army in Palestine.
With the situation in the Near East becoming more menacing, the British Embassy said today it had “nothing new to report” on London’s reaction to the formation of a Jewish army to fight alongside General Wavell’s army of the Nile.
The campaign of the Zionists to form a separate Jewish army was transferred from London to Washington two weeks ago when Dr. Chaim Weizmann conferred with State Department and British Embassy officials. Thus far there have been no concrete results from these conversations, it was learned.
One month ago there were 7,500 Palestine Jewish volunteers in the British forces, according to official advices from American observers in Palestine, but the British had carefully refrained from placing them in separate fighting units, for fear that this might offend Arab opinion.
Of the 7,500,600 are now serving with the East Kent regiment in the field. The British High Command was careful to see that 600 Arabs also serve with the regiment, according to official reports from American observers on the spot.
Most of the other Jewish volunteers were used in engineer and other auxiliary services. The reports from American observers show that while the Arabs in Palestine out-number the Jews two to one, the Jewish volunteers outnumber the Arabs by more than two to one. There are 3,000 Palestine Arabs in the British forces.
The numbers of both Arabs and Jews have increased since March 16, when another plea was made for volunteers. According to word received here, Jewish and Arab volunteers are estimated at another 2,000.
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