Resentment Rises in Palestine over Deportation of Refugees; 388 Illegals Jailed

A wave of resentment rolled over Jewish Palestine today as the British administration countered illegal entry of Central European refugees by rounding up hundreds for deportation and forcing others to set sail on the crowded, leaky ships on which they had arrived.

The Greek steamship Assimi, compelled to sail after its captain had been imprisoned, was seen drifting out in the Mediterranean with some 400 refugees aboard. The Government was preparing to force another refugee transport, the Panagio, to leave. Some 390 refugees in two groups, found wandering near the coast after having been smuggled ashore over the weekend, were jailed in Jaffa.

The Jewish Community of Haifa called a city-wide Jewish protest strike and demanded, in messages to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and High Commissioner Sir Harolo A. Mac-Michael, more humane treatment for refugees stranded on Palestine’s shore. The demand was backed by the American Jewish Association of Palestine.

Four successive demonstrations were held by public schools pupils and students of the Hebrew Technical High School in Haifa. Boys, girls and women carried signs, “Open Palestine’s Gates to Illegals!” Strong police and military detachments patrolled the streets, dispersing demonstrators but making no arrests.

The Jewish National Council of Palestine met to consider action and rejected the demand of Jerusalem student delegations for a nation-wide Jewish general strike. Isaac Ben-Zvi, president of the council, appealed to William D. Battershill, Government chief secretary, not to force the departure of the Penagio, and arranged an audience with Mr. Battershill for Tuesday. The Jerusalem Jewish Community sent a delegation to Edward Keith-Roach, District Commissioner.

While the demonstrations were in progress in Haifa, the Assimi could be seen drifting out into the Mediterranean. It was forced to weigh anchor at daybreak today after being held for nearly two weeks in the harbor, its passengers incommunicado. The ship’s departure was scheduled for Friday but was delayed because of legal formalities connected with the imprisonment of its captain. Harrowing scenes marked the ship’s departure. The refugees could be seen jettisoning clothing and drinking water to lighten the unseaworthy vessel. Screams and prayers from the exiles huddled on the deck could be heard from the shore. Several of the passengers were rumored to have committed suicide by jumping overboard.

Before the Assimi sailed, three women requiring medical attention were taken ashore and transferred to the Government hospital at Haifa. They are Sarah Lefkowitch of Germany and Mrs. Schwartzbard of Leipzig, the latter the mother of seven children, both of them sick, and a Mrs. Weinstein, who was bearing a child.

The sailing of the Panagio was postponed after the passengers had launched a hunger strike when informed of the scheduled departure. The Haifa Jewish Community demanded of the Government that the passengers be permitted to land because of the vessels unseaworthiness. The authorities finally permitted the refugees to be placed in quarantine ashore pending disposition of their cases.

Lodged in Jaffa jail today were two groups of refugees, totalling 388, who were successfully smuggled ashore, only to wander helplessly until they fell into the hands of troops and police. One party, officially put at 218 in number, were arrested Friday night in Jewish-owned groves in the vicinity of Ashdod after being landed from a ship which escaped.

Another group of 170 refugees from Germany, Austria and former Czechoslovakia, who had been landed on Saturday after 36 days at sea, were found by troops stumbling among the sand dunes near Ashkalon. The ragged, hungry and thirsty exiles, some of them sick, had 50 women and 10 children in their number. The 170 were brought first to the military camp at Ashdod, where they were given bread and tea by the soldiers, and were later transferred to the Jaffa jail. They were led through the Jewish town of Rehoboth, whose streets were jammed with sympathetic colonists held back by a cordon of troops. The local council provided food and first-aid for the sick. Two of the group were later removed to Hadassah hospital in Tel Aviv.

The unidentified body of a German Jew was washed ashore in the vicinity of Ashkalon. He had apparently been drowned while landing.