The curfew was lifted this morning in Jerusalem after having been in effect for sixteen days, following the explosion in the King David Hotel, which resulted in 91 dead, 13 missing and 47 injured.
Direct responsibility for the casualties was laid today to Palestine Chief Secretary Sir John V. Shaw in a broadcast on the “Voice of Israel,” the Haganah radio station. The broadcast revealed that the manager of the King David Hotel informed the Chief Secretary of the warning received over the telephone that the building was to be dynamited, but the latter disregarded it.
“I am here to give orders to the Jews and not to receive orders from them,” the Chief Secretary was quoted as having replied. The broadcast emphasized that the Jewish resistance movement has documentary proof to substantiate the charge against Sir John. It also charged the Chief Secretary with having saved himself and a few senior officers, while forbidding anyone else from leaving the offices of the Palestine Administration after he received the warning.
It was revealed here today that Gen. Evelyn Barker who issued the anti-Jewish order to the British troops instructing them to boycott all Jewish businesses in Palestine, also sent the same order to Polish troops in Palestine. At the same time, the Polish soldiers were told not to fraternize with Jewish girls.
JEWS EXILED TO ERITREA ON PLANES; JEWISH DETAINEE TRIES TO HANG HIMSELF
A group of eleven Jews who had been detained by the British authorities during recent days, were today flown to exile in Eritrea. It was officially announced today that Jacob Mori, a Jew, tried to hang himself at the Latrun concentration camp with a rope made from strips cut from his trousers. He was said to be in a serious condition.
An indication of the nervousness prevailing among British officers in Palestine was evidenced in a press release issued here today which reports that “what appears to have been an attempt on the lives of two British officers occurred last night when officers sitting in their premises in Upper Baka (Jerusalem’s Arab quarter) heard dogs running towards the gardens, barking, after which several shots were fired, wounding one of the dogs.”
At a press conference, military spokesmen explained this might well have been an attempt on the officers’ lives, especially since one of the officers is a member of a military court. None of the military are inclined to believe that the shooting could have been the work of a common thief trying to break in, or part of a current “dog-destroying campaign.”
AMERICAN CONSULATE IN JERUSALEM GUARDED BY SPECIAL POLICE
Four extra policemen were guarding the premises of the United States consulate in Jerusalem today, following the bombing of the American and British legations at Beirut. Lowell C. Pinkerton, American Consul General, said he did not ask for extra protection, and that the special policemen were stationed at the insistence of the Palestine police.
A Jewish delegation today called upon Gen. Sir Alan Cunningham, the Palestine High Commissioner, and appealed to him to halt evictions from the buildings which the Palestine authorities are requisitioning for military offices. The High Commissioner said that he would look into the matter.
Former Senator Gillette, president of the American League for a Free Palestine, visited the High Commissioner and discussed the Palestine situation with him.
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