Tel Aviv is one of the most favored spots for American soldiers on leave, the American Red Cross reported today. The U. S. serviceman, who converge on the Jewish city, the report states, come chiefly from the Persian Gulf and travel via convoy across Transjordan. They are permitted 10 days’ relaxation in Palestine. Other tourists include combat crews from Italy, soldiers who took part in the invasion of Normandy, and Air Transport Command soldiers from desert posts throughout Africa, the Red Cross revealed.
“Tel-Aviv is extremely popular with all soldiers on leave,” the Red Cross report says. “What attracts them are healthy children, clean, modern streets, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, well stocked shops with merchandise exquisitely made by refugees, ice cream parlors — one run by a Brooklyn woman who serves a conglomeration of ice creams and fruits dubbed a “Brooklyn Special.” Enlisted men like Palestine as a leave area because all night spots, restaurants, tea houses, beaches are in bounds to enlisted personnel.”
“Palestinians are friendly and hospitable to American soldiers and a great many of them entertain G.I.’s in their homes,” the report continues. “Two American families who have been especially kind to Holy Land tourists are Dr. & Mrs. E. Epstein of Jerusalem, and Mr. & Mrs. Greenburg of Tel Aviv, through whose homes have passed thousands of lonely soldiers eager to get within a real home again,” the report says.
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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.
