Israeli premier David Ben Gurion reiterated today that “the enemy may renew attacks–we must prepare for any emergency during the truce. ” Addressing a conference of Mapai, the Jewish Labor Party, Ben Gurion said: “Our existence and the fate of Israel are now dependent upon our moral and military strength. “
“Two main duties at the present time,” he stressed, “are to organize Israel’s any for a possible struggle and to build up Israel’s state. We must fortify as quickly as possible every settlement and from a living, human wall. Our regular any, whose existence is necessitated by modern war, must absorb the best traditions of Haganah and be subjected to one authority–the nation of Israel. “
Moshe Shertok, Israeli Foreign Minister, who reviewed the up-to-the-minute military and political developments, emphasized that the achievements won in the Jewish nation’s struggle for independence “are due to the splendid unity of the Yishuv. ” Referring to “several surprises” which came about as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, Shertok declared:
“First, we never imagined how insignificant the help of the United Nations would be in implementing its own decision. Second, although we knew of the White Paper’s black record, we never foresaw the extent of Great Britain’s hostility to us and the British Government’s designs to annihilate young Israel. Third, the whole world was amazed at the complete weakness of the Palestine Arabs, who thought they could uproot a community that was so strong. “
Asserting that the Jews warned the United Nations that the Arab states would defy the international body, Shertok said the warning went unheeded. The Mandatory Power, he charged, “opened the gates to Arab invasion, encouraging the Arab to conquer and partition Palestine among the Arab states. But our stand upset the British-Arab calculations.
A dispatch from Haifa said today that the 24-year-old captain of the Jewish immigrant vessel, Pan York, will be tried by a British military court for willfully disobeying an order of the British military command in Palestine, It.-Gen. Gordon A.H. Macmillan, when he refused to said a British naval captain to board the vessel. Gad Hilb, the Pan York’s captain, was arrested late yesterday when his vessel docked at Haifa harbor.
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.
