Prime Minister David Ben Gurion today appealed to the nation at the large to adhere to the provisions of the U.N. truce, following a blast by the Irgun radio against the government’s acceptance of the terms of the plan.
The former dissidents asserted that the government had accepted a plan “worked out by British intelligence” and which would give the Arabs time to gather their strength and launch a new attack at the end of the month’s truce or even earlier. “By accepting the truce,” the Irgun announcer stated, the government has “sold out our in dependence” and will prevent the arming of the Jews. Finally, the broadcast warned the nation that it was in the hands of a government “which has shown disgraceful spirit in the tradition of the Jewish Agency.”
Commenting at a news conference on the Irgun’s attitude toward the truce in Jerusalem — where the dissidents remain as a separate unit — Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok stated that the Irgun was not an important factor in the Jerusalem military situation. Speaking of the composition of the U.N. team of observers to check on the cease-fire, Shertok stated that the Soviet Union was “perfectly entitled” to claim participation in the control, “like other U.N. members.” However, he objected to British participation because Britain “is not neutral.”
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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.
