The Jewish Agency today completed study of the British ultimatum of Monday demanding cooperation against the terrorists, and it is believed that the executive will refuse to join in the government’s manhunt on moral and practical grounds. It was decided at the all-day session to reiterate the Agency’s stand on terrorism as well as the resolution adopted last month by the Jewish National Council.
A plenary session of the Jewish National Council for Palestine opened tonight to discuss the grave problems confronting the Jewish community. It is understood that practically all Jewish political groups oppose compliance with the British ultimatum. However, two groups – the Aliyah Hadassah and the Hashomer Hatzair – are said to favor its acceptance.
It was learned that the Palestine Government is preparing a new White Paper on the Agency’s alleged connection with terrorist organizations. The document will deal with the period from Nov. 1945 to the present and will attempt to link the Agency to the underground with such questions as: “Why was it quiet in Palestine during the Zionist Congress?”
It was also learned today that the dissident groups, particularly the Irgun Zvai Leumi, are still prepared to declare an “armistice” if Dov Gruner, condemned Irgunist, is removed from the shadow of the gallows and if the government gives assurances that it will not undertake further repressive measures and punitive operations against the Jewish community.
Meanwhile, Chief Rabbis Isaac Herzog and Ben Zion Uziel have called off their announced visit to Gruner in order to give his siter, Helen Friedman, who is expected to arrive here by plane tomorrow from the United States, an opportunity to make a prior personal plea to her brother to sign an appeal to the Privy Council.
4,000 JEWS EVICTED WITHIN 48 HOURS FROM BRITISH “PROTECTED AREAS”
Some 4,000 Jews were evicted within the last 48 hours from Jerusalem’s four new “security areas” to make room for troops, police and British civil servants, it was learned here tonight. The Jews have not yet been offered any alternative accommodations.
It was today reported in British circles that High Commissioner Sir Alun G. Cunningham is personally opposed to the evacuation of British women and children and non-essential male civilians. It is said that General Sir Evelyn Barker, British military commander, is entirely responsible for the planning and execution of the operation.
Brigadier Pool, British commander of the Nathanya area, has asked Nathanya’s mayor, Oved Ben Ami, to grant British soldiers permission to visit the city. Ben Ami, at whose request the troops were barred from Nathanya following Christmas riots there, agreed, stating that the city’s population has always displayed friendliness and hospitality toward the soldiers.
Arab sources today stated that the formation of a new Arab party seeking Arab-Jewish rapprochement is being contemplated by a group of prominent Arabs throughout the country who have wide political contacts within Palestine and in the neighboring Arab states. Although the platform of the projected party has not yet been made public, it is understood that it contains planks calling for larger Jewish immigration, the establishment of “a Palestine state” with equal rights for Jews and Arabs, and a number of other concessions to the Jews.
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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.
