Seven hundred members of the Jewish Brigade stranded at Port Said went on a one-day hunger strike last Sunday protesting the British Army’s postponement of their journey to Palestine, it was reported here today when 150 officers and man of the Brigade reached the Sarafand army base.
The strike was called off when military authorities promised to send home groups of 150 daily. When the group which arrived today, the first of the promised daily transports, passed through Kantara, border station between Egypt and Palestine, all soldiers were searched thoroughly for weapons.
Colonel Gray, the new inspector general of the Palestine Police Force, paying his first visit to Tel Aviv today, promised Mayor Israel Rokach that the city’s police force would soon be composed completely of Jews. A Jewish commander will be appointed shortly, he said, and all British policeman would be withdrawn. He promised to improve the economic status and housing conditions of the city’s police and appealed to the municipality to encourage the enlistment of Jewish youth in the police force.
Isaac Ben Zvi, president of the Jewish National Council, today revealed the conditions under which the Jews would agree to cooperate with the Government’s census. The Council demands that all visaless immigrants who are in Palestine be given Legal status and that the Government give its assurance that it will obtain an accurate census of the Arab population, Ben Zvi told a press conference. The latter point has been accepted, he said, but the first condition is still under consideration.
WEIZMANN VISITE “VISALESS” JEWISH IMMIGRANTS AT ATHLETE CAMP
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, accompanied by Meyer Weisgal, secretary general of the American branch of the Jewish Agency, today paid an unannounced visit to the visaless immigrants who arrived on the schooner Haviva Reik and are now interned at the Athlit clearance camp. Weizmann was greeted with shouts of “Welcome, our president.”
Seventy thousand Arab workers will be engaged on the construction of military installations in southern Palestine, it was learned here today. It was also reported that the British will spend approximately $25,000,000 to enlarge the Gaza base and convert it into an army and navy center Press reports here indicate that documents of the British Mediterranean Command Headquarters have already been transferred to Sarafand, where it is believed the new headquarters will be established.
All the Jewish settlements of the Galilce region today protested the expected presence of Emir Talel, heir designate of King Abdulish of Transjordan, at the parade celebrating King George’s birthday which will take place in Tiberias. The settlers question the presence of a “foreign prince” at the parade and threaten to boycott the celebration if Talal attends.
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.
