The Jews of Palestine are prepared to sit down with the Arabs of this country to discuss a settlement of the Palestine problem, but the Jewish Agency does not recognize the right of the Arab states to negotiate a Palestine settlement, an Agency spokesman told a press conference today.
The spokesman described as “a great source of irritation” the stationing in Jerusalem of Arab troops from Transjordan, particularly in light of the fact that the Jewish Brigade has been disbanded, despite repeated appeals that it be retained. He said that the Agency has protested the use of Transjordan Frontier Force guards in the women’s section of the Latrun detention camp, where many Jews are held.
The Haganah radio, “Voice of Israel,” today broadcast a warning that the “third phase” of British military operations here was imminent. The first phase were the raids on the Jewish Agency on June 29 and the second the four-day occupation of Tel Aviv. More arrests and seizures can be expected, the broadcast said. A regime of “guillotines and death sentences” is in preparation in Palestine, it concluded.
Jerusalem was still jittery today as additional troops and barbed wire barricades reinforced the government’s “fortress area” in the center of the city, as a precaution against attacks by underground forces in retaliation for the deportations to Cyprus and the death sentences meted out to 18 Jewish youths.
The Palestine Broadcasting System’s studios were evacuated this morning for the second time in the last few days, when a telephoned warning was received that the structure would be bombed. A half-hour search by police uncovered no explosives and the staff returned to duty. The post office has had so many bomb scares in the last few days that correspondents are losing count. However, there have been at least eleven.
Lieut. Benjamin Woodworth was acquitted by a military court here on charges of killing Abraham Rosenberg in Tel Aviv on June 19. He told the tribunal today that he shot Rosenberg because he resembled one of the kidnappers who had earlier seized three British officers in Woodworth’s presence and he feared he would be attacked. Prosecution witnesses yesterday testified that Rosenberg had been shot in the back.
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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.
