After a six-day voyage from Italy in a 250-ton sailing schooner, 173 Jewish "illegal" immigrants landed by rowboats "somewhere on the coast of Palestine" on Monday according to a report from Jerusalem by Boaters, the British news agency.
The report emphasized that the information comes from Jewish sources. The diembarkation took two hours and was covered by an armed guard of the Haganah, the Jewish self-defense organization, it stated. The immigrats are alleged to have indeeded Jewish refugees from Austria, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Among them were arrivers of concentration camps and former partisans.
An unscheduled discussion on Palestine took place in the House of Commons today when several members asked Colonial Secretary Geerge Hall a number of questions concerning the security of Palestine and the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Mr. Hall said that the Palestine Government is doing its utmost to disarm civilians. He denied that the Jews who were being held at the Athlit camp as "illegal immigrants" were to be deported from the country. He also announced that the ex-mufti of Jerusalem is now in French hands, but added that he would make no statement at present on whether the ex-Mufti was to be treated as a traitor or as a war criminal.
The speaker of the House everruled an objection to remarks made by Lord Winterton which were interpreted as an attempt "to raise serious anti-Jewish prejudices." The Objection was raised by William Gallacher, Communist. The Colonial Secretary, replying to Lord Winterton, promised to obtain from the Palestine Hight Commissioner his comment on a letter alleging that the police must use lethal weapons when lives the endangered by "murderous attacks of Jews."
A meeting of the General Council of the Federation of Synagogues, representing 70,000 Jews, adopted a unanimous resolution urging abrogation of the White Paper and immediate steps to transfer surviving Jews in Europe to Palestine. The resolution pointed out that many thousands will perish this winter unless immediate action is taken. Copies were sent to Prime Minister Attlee, Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and colonial Secretary George Hall.
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