Leading Government officials and Jewish leaders today expressed confidence that Palestine was safe, despite the situation on Mediterranean battlefronts and in the Middle East. A survey of official opinion was made in interviews by this correspondent.
The belief is that there is not the slightest danger of an Italy-German break-through in Egypt. The general impression is that Turkey will not permit transit of German troops for a drive towards Suez through Syria and Palestine. The situation arising from the fighting in Iraq is not considered serious.
Despite Axis reports of Arab rioting in Palestine, the fact is that the Arabs of the Holy Land are not interested in the outbreaks in Iraq. The handful of agitators remaining in Palestine will not change the situation, it is held.
Nevertheless, defense preparations are being speeded. The call of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Jewish National Council for enlistment of unmarried men between the ages of 20 and 30 has been well received. It is understood that recruiting for the Royal Artillery will be concluded this weekend. Central Jewish institutions and local Jewish communities have opened recruiting offices which are thronged with candidates.
The Palestine Zionist General Council met today to consider further measures for defense. Moshe Shertok, head of the Jewish Agency’s political department, reported on recent negotiations with the Palestine Government for enlargement of Jewish participation in the war effort.
(In London, Lord Samuel declared in the House of Lords that the threat in the Middle East was serious and expressed hope that the Government had organized and armed the Arab and Jewish populations for their own defense. Reuters news agency reported that “the people of Nablus, the old Moslem town of central Palestine, yesterday turned out an masse and widely applauded a parade of Arab recruits for the British army.”)
In Tel Aviv, there was announced establishment of the Tel Aviv Mayor’s Fund for Military Ambulance. The ambulances, to be paid for by voluntary donations, will bear inscriptions in English and Hebrew.
Meanwhile, 80 Jewish refugees stranded at Mersina, Turkey, for the past three months, cabled an appeal to Jerusalem for transfer to Palestine.
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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.
