Jewish Agency Warns Jerusalem May Become Battlefield; Hits Truman Statement

The Jewish Agency’s first reaction to President human’s re-affirmation of the U.S. trusteeship proposal for Palestine was describe ay by an Agency spokesman as “bewildering.”

The Security Council has vast powers to enforce a U.K. decision if it chooses do so, the spokesman Declared at a press conference, but the statement yesterday Truman fails to clarify why the U.S. Government thinks it necessary to suspend the dating program and machinery to substitute a different set of proposals. One thing clear, he added, in 50 days, when the Mandate ends — “unless Britain changes its end” — a Jewish Provisional Government must be ready to step into the void with administrative machinery and its own security forces.

The spokesman asserted that the Jews reluctantly accepted the U.N. decision to make Jerusalem an internationalized city under U.N. supervision, but four months have passed and nothing has been done to provide for the city’s security or administration. The spokesman pointed out that no governor or international police force or Jerusalem has been named as yet nor has the U.N. draft statute been accepted. loss arrangements are speeded up, he said, Jerusalem will become a “battlefield in ## days. This will not he the fault of the Jews, the Agency representative stated, since the proposed Jewish state does not include Jerusalem and the Jewish Provisional government is not expected to exercise authority over the city.

Observing that, officially, Jewish militia are not required to protect the city, the spokesman said neither the United Nations nor the British have lifted a singer to do anything about the city’s defense. The spokesman went on to say that the Arabs have drawn up an elaborate plan to isolate Jerusalem and establish military control there.

“But,” he warned, “we have a plan to defend the 100,000 Jerusalem Jews and to keep open the life-line with the coast.

“We are most anxious to respect the Holy Places in Jerusalem, but it is practically impossible to do so with bombardments and street fighting. It is to forestall just such an unhappy state of affair that the Jewish Agency has suggested that Norwegian and Banish units now stationed in northern Germany be dispatched here to garrison the city,” he said.

JEWISH CONVOY FIGHTS CLEAR OF ARAB TRAP IN NEGEV

An eight-vehicle Jewish convoy fought a running battle with a strong Arab force on the main Gaza-Tel Aviv road today. Six Arabs were killed before the Jews succeeded in breaking through the trap, the Haganah reported. The Jews lost an armored car which was escorting the convoy when the automobile struck a landmine.

The Haganah also reported that ten Arabs were killed and many more injured when a band of Arabs was caught harassing traffic on the reads around Ein Harod, on the Plain of Esdrealon. At Neve Jacob, north of Jerusalem, which the Haganah has converted into a fortress after evacuating all women and children, the Arabs unsuccessfully renewed their efforts to overwhelm the colony.

A special Inner war cabinet has been formed by the Jewish Agency to more easily deal with the shifting war scene in the country, it was announced in Tel Aviv last night. The members of the four-man body are David Ben Gurion, Eliezer Kaplan, Itzhak Grpenbaum and Moshe Shapiro. The body vas set up because of the difficulty of maintaining contact among the many members Agency executive who are generally divided between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It was felt that since the road between the two cities was under frequent attack and for long periods is unpassabable, it would be much easier for a small body to meet in emergencies than the full executive.