A British boarding party killed one Jew and wounded ten others today during a sea battle early this morning between the Palmach, a 200-ton wooden immigrant vessel carrying more than 600 visaless Jews and the 950-ton British destroyer Rowena. Several of the boarders were also injured.
The Palmach was intercepted three miles off the Lebanese coast. According to an official communique, the Rowena hailed her and warned the passengers in English, French and Italian that force would be used if resistance was shown the boarding party. They replied by flinging an assortment of missiles at the destroyer, the communique said. Fire hoses were then played upon the vessel and tsar gas grenades were thrown into the refugees massed on its decks. After a pitched battle the naval party gained control of the ship.
The Palmach was taken into tow and brought into Haifa this afternoon, since it was not feasible to divert the vessel to Cyprus because its engines had been damaged. The passengers will be loaded aboard a deportation vessel tomorrow morning and taken to Cyprus.
Eight seriously ill refugees were taken to a Haifa hospital tonight. Several hundred of the arrivals, who are said to include many elderly people, are reported to be suffering from exhaustion resulting from lack of drinking water during the latter part of their voyage and the general hardships of the trip.
The 11 casualties among the refugees are believed to have been caused by a shell fired by the Rowena. The official communique stated that a quantity of dynamite and eighteen home-made detonators were found hidden in a case of soap aboard ship.
The Haganah radio “Voice of Israel” said tonight that the Palmach passengers had “reached Palestine on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and hundreds more are coming. Immigration will continue and increase,” the broadcast added. “It will never be crushed.”
MILITARY TRUCK AMBUSHED; 1,000 SEARCHED AT ROAD BLOCK OUTSIDE TEL AVIV
A military truck carrying a group of British officers from Haifa to Athlit was ambushed tonight by unknown terrorists who escaped. One officer was slightly wounded.
A few hours earlier, British troops and police set up a road block outside Tel Aviv and questioned about 1,000 persons. More than 400 vehicles were halted and their occupants searched and interrogated.
The Jewish National Council today issued a statement to the press disclosing that 1,208 Jews are still being held in camps in various parts of Palestine and 300 are confined in camps in Eritrea.
The Council also made public Its reply to a letter from Aeting Chief Secretary Ccott in which he asked for an explanation of the $400,000 fund being raised by the Council to finance continued immigration and the reason why it had voted to withdraw Jewish representatives from participation in government committees.
The reply said that the decision not to participate in official bodies resulted from the government’s “acts of ageression against Jewish settlements, the largescale searches and the arrest of theusands of Jews, ” including the chairman of the Council, David Remez, and members of the Jewish Agency. Concerning the immigration fund, the Council said that the fund was the Jewish community’s reply to the White Paper immigration restrictions, which it holds are illegal, The letter stressed that Jewish representatives have not resigned from government committees, but are refraining from attending meetings.
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