Strike in Palestine Paralyzes Country; Troops Handle Telephone and Mail Services

British troops today manned the telephone exchanges in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Haifa, while engineering units are standing by ready to help maintain postal, railway, dock and other essential public services, which are paralyzed as a result of the strike of 50,000 Arab and Jewish government employees who are demanding better pay and working conditions.

Officers and soldiers of the British Army post office system were working at the general post office in Jerusalem sorting the huge stacks of mail which have been accumulating daily since the post office workers walked out eight days ago. Also on strike now are all junior civil servants, among them more than 10,000 clerks, typists, accountants, tax collectors and messengers.

A move to end the dispute was made today when John Shaw, Chief Secretary of the Palestine Government, met for the first time with strike leaders. However, they were unable to reach any agreement, Meanwhile, G.D. Kennedy, Palestine Postmaster General, and a representative of the Palestine Labor Department, left for Britain by air to confer with the Colonial Office, since the strike is considered the worst labor crisis in Palestine since the country became a mandated territory.

Commenting on the strike, Dr. J.L. Magnes said today: “There is complete unity and solidarity between the thousands of striking Arab and Jewish government officers. It is their common interests which brought them together, and not abstract formulas. It is life itself which welded the unity. This is what the Ichud Association, which urges Arab-Jewish unity, has always contended. The unity now achieved is but one example of what can come about if the declared sincere policy of the government will be Arab-Jewish cooperation. There are Arab-Jewish interests all along the line – in industry, agriculture, education and government.”