Palestine High Commissioner Sir Alan G. Cunningham has recommended to the British Government that Jewish visaless immigrants intercepted while attempting to enter Palestine and deported to Cyprus be transferred to the Athlit clearance camp near Haifa, it was learned today. The government is reported giving the matter serious consideration.
A Jewish Agency spokesman, commenting on the release of the members of the Agency’s executive in Palestine, said that the British Government detracted from the value of its gesture by freeing at the same time Arab prisoners who had been held for terrorism since 1937, a Jewish Agency spokesman here declared today.
The spokesman emphasized that the Agency regretted that only the eight leaders had been released up to now and that several hundred other Jews arrested at the same time had not yet been freed. He declared that the move had cleared up one point of tension but asserted that there were still several pressing problems such as the admission of more Jewish immigrants, the release of the Cyprus deportees, and the curfews and searching of homes, which must also be settled. “We think this action is a step in the right direction,” hd said, “and if the government continues like this, the Palestine tangle will begin to be unwound.”
BRITISH PRESS LAUDS RELEASE OF JEWISH LEADERS IN PALESTINE
The British press today generally expressed approval of the freeing of the detained Jewish leaders. The Daily Telegraph, which declared that the step was “to be commented,” pointed out, however, that while the prospects for Jewish and Arab participation in the London Conference have improved, the likelihood of Arab-Jewish agreement at the conference has not.
The liberal Manchester Guardian stated that the releases were indispensable to any attempt at achieving peace in Palestine and added that the arrests were a “mistake of inept military officials to whom in a moment of panic the government surrendered authority,” and which had to be undone before opening new talks with the American Government. The editorial also termed the turning away of refugee ships from Palestine a “perpetual condemnation of the British name.”
The Daily Express looked toward a reconciliation of Anglo-American policies on Palestine at the forthcoming talks between Secretary of State Byrnes and Foreign Minister Bevin. It bitterly attacked American Revisionists for their anti-British campaign in the United States.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
