Virtually all able-bodied men and women between the ages-of 18 and 45 will be prevented from leaving Cyprus for Israel during the four-weeks truce period, a Foreign Office spokesman declared today. He revealed that the British commander on the island has been ordered to halt the departure of most of the 24,000 detained Jews still in Cyprus. The order was based on a decision taken by the Cabinet yesterday.
The official interpretation of clauses III and IV of the Security’ Council’s truce resolution, the spokesman said, is that “fighting personnel” means men capable of being used for fighting and, if such men reach the Jewish state, they must not be trained for military service.
Explaining the order to cut off the departure of the Jewish detainees in Cyprus to Israel, the spokesman stated that the British Government has information to the effect that all Jews on the island have received some form of military or paramilitary training. Admitting that Britain had exchanged views with other governments on this issue before reaching its decision on this interpretation of the Council’s truce resolution, the spokesman refused to name these governments.
Britain’s announcement today of its interpretation of the U.N.’s resolution came as a surprise to most persons here, since until yesterday official government spokesmen had insisted that the interpretation of the resolution is a matter for the Security Council only. (A cable received at Lake Success late last night from the Central Committee of Detained Jews on Cyprus protested Britain’s decision to halt the detainees’ departure to Israel and termed it a “willful misinterpretation” of the U.N. resolution.)
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