“The Jewish Agency will make all means of transportation available to enable the speediest transfer of the detained Jews on Cyprus to Israel,” an Agency spokesman announced here today. He was commenting on the announcement in London yesterday by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin that the Cyprus detainees would be permitted to leave for the Jewish state as soon as the Jews provided transportation for them.
In Tel Aviv, Pesach Litvak, assistant director for the Joint Distribution Committee on Cyprus, revealed that the J.D.C. expended $2,500,000 in providing care for the detained Jews on the Mediterranean island. He added that the agency’s task on Cyprus will end when the 11,000 internees reach Israel and when the 40-member J.D.C, staff, recruited in. Israel, returns home.
Harry Viteles, head of the J.D.C. Middle East Office, who returned here from Aden today, reported “dreadful conditions and the fear of pogroms” in that British protectorate. He also visited Iran where he said conditions are “not good” with a great many of the Jews there illiterate.
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.
