Warning that the situation in Palestine may become bloody and as disastrous as in Spain” unless the United States lifts its embargo shipping arms to Jews in Palestine, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency, told a press conference today that “some members of U.S. Government are collaborating in a conspiracy to frustrate the U.N. partition ?ision.”
Dr. Silver, who returned last night from a three-week stay in Palestine following an urgent call from Zionist leaders here, reported that “the British are trying to make it as easy as possible for the Arabs to defeat the U.N. plan by violence.” At the same time, he emphasized, life in Palestine today is far from chaotic and no ?iness enterprise has closed down as a result of violence the Zionist leader emphasized that “not a single settlement has been abandoned by the Jewish people, ? is there intention to abandon any area whatever.”
The Jews of Palestine, he said, are resolved to defend their rights to the last ?, for they know that their back is to the wall, and that this is the last stand. There is no other solution for them but the establishment of the Jewish state this year.
Pointing out that either a well-equipped Jewish militia or an international ?ce is needed to maintain law and order in Palestine, in view of the “neutral” position of the British there, Dr. Silver said that it is common knowledge that a large concentration of Arab forces in Nablus is awaiting the signal to begin operations against the Jews. “Not a single one of these non-Palestinian, well equipped fully-?ed Arabs has been arrested,” he charged.
The Zionist leader bitterly criticized the British Government for spreading ?paganda that Soviet agents are allegedly infiltrating Palestine on refugee ships. ?lar criticism was voiced at the press conference by Moshe Shertok, head of the critical department of the Jewish Agency. Referring to the two refugee ships, Pan York and Pan Crescent, Shertok said that apart from 4,500 children aboard the ves?, all other passengers were members of Zionist organizations.
“To the best of my knowledge, not a single person who could correctly be scribed as a Communist agent was deliberately placed aboard these two ships to ?seminate Communist propaganda,” Shertok stated. “Such inclusions would be pre?ted as would the inclusion of all persons who want to come to Palestine for pur?es other than those of settling and joining in the building of the Jewish state.”
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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.
