The thirty-two Polish Jewish girls who are kept under lock and key in the Women’s Prison here, twelve miles outside Jerusalem, are not allowed male visitors, and if young males do come to visit them, no other male witnesses are allowed to be in the vicinity.
This is to prevent the young men from declaring “Lo, thou art consecrated to me,” the Jewish matrimonial blessing, which legal ally binds a woman to a man. If Palestinians do this, the women immediately become of the same nationality and cannot be imprisoned or deported on a charge of illegally entering the country.
The girls steadfastly refuse to indicate where their passports are. They say they are legal residents of Palestine. The authorities are in a dilemma as to their disposition after the prison terms have been served, as there is no indication as to their country of origin. Poland can refuse to accept the women back if they have no passports.
The girls are in good health and spirits. One of them told a lawyer who visited, “We shall remain here three months; but that will be our expiation, and we intend to remain afterwards in the land.”
The Polish Consul General in Jerusalem, Dr. Kurnikowski, has visited the prisoners in the jail.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
