British naval authorities today informed the Jewish Agency that they would no longer provide transportation for Cyprus internees who ## eligible to return to Palestine under the monthly immigration quota.
An official spokesman said the decision was adopted because four British ships which carried Jewish refugees between Palestine and Cyprus had been damaged or sunk ## and bombs placed by members of the Haganah. He asserted that Britain was offering a shipping shortage and, therefore, refused to risk any other vessels.
It is reported that the S.S. Kedmah, flagship of the Jewish merchant marine ##, will be used on the Cyprus run. Another report states that negotiations are under way between the Agency and the government to release several of the confiscated blockade runners, now lying at anchor in Haifa harbor, for use between Cyprus and the mainland.
A government spokesman announced today that the last group of internees to be transported from Cyprus to Palestine on a British vessel will be 985 Jewish orphans ## are being admitted on “humanitarian grounds,” outside the monthly quota.
From Malta it was reported that the Kedmah had put in at the port of Valetta ## additional fuel needed for the journey to Palestine. The 3,000-ton steamer left ## yesterday carrying 160 legal immigrants from the British zone of Germany.
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