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British Decision on Palestine Will Be Announced Next Week; Jewish Agency Leaders May Resign

October 9, 1945
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It was learned from a usually reliable source today that the British Government has decided upon its Palestine policy, and will announce it in Commons on Oct. 16. Its decision may result in the immediate resignation of all members of the Jewish Agency, headed by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, and the establishment of an emergency committee of all Zionist parties, this source said.

A meeting of the Small Zionist Actions Committee held last night, demanded the immediate removal from Palestine of the Transjordan Frontier Force, which wounded seven Jews near the colony of Kfar Giladi, on Saturday. Speakers revealed that when the TJFF was being organized, Zionist leaders demanded that Jewish officers and men be included and that it not be restricted to Arabs commanded by British officers. They were told, however, that the unit was to be used only in Transjordan and was no concern of Palestine.

Meanwhile, the Jewish settlers of the Upper Galillee region, in which Kfar Giladi is located, today protested to Deputy District Commissioner Visint against Saturday’s disturbance. They denied that the small group of Jews who were fired upon by the TJFF had attempted to disarm the latter, and charged that the Jews were shot at while they were still some distance from the soldiers, and were fired on even after some had fallen to the ground.

The settlers demanded the immediate removal of the TJFF from their district, asserting that this was not the first time that it had attacked Jews. Visint expressed regret at the incident and promised to forward their demand to higher authorities. It was learned that a delegation of the leaders of Arab settlements in the region will also visit the District Commissioner tomorrow and demand the removal of the TJFF.

The entire Hebrow press is demanding that the Trans jordan Frontier Force be transferred out of Palestine. The censorship killed an editorial in Davar, leading Hebrew daily, which charged that the Arab soldiers of the TJFF were brought here from Iraq where they participated in the pro-Nazi revolt led by Rashid Ali el Gailani, and that some of them had refused to aid the British when the Nazis were triumphant in North Africa. “These were brought to Palestine to shoot Jews, and prevent Jewish immigration,” the suppressed editorial concluded.

JEWS IN EGYPT TORRORISED BY POLITICAL PARTIES; FEAR “TRAGIC EVENTS”

The Actions Committee meeting also discussed the situation of the Jews in Egypt, who, according to persistent reports, are being used by the various Egyptian political parties for their own purposes. Each group tries to outdo the other in threatening Jews and some Jews have been manhandled. The Egyptian Jewish community, the reports say, fools that it is on the verge of tragic events.

Major Jewish women’s organizations in Palestine today cabled a plea to Queen Elizabeth, asking her intervention for the abrogation of the White Paper and the “restoration of the Jewish people to their ancient home land.”

The central committee of the Agudas Israel organization today sent a cable to Prime Minister Attlee asking him “in the name of Orthodox Jewry to open the doors of Palestine for the unhappy remainder of what has been rescued from the hands of the Nazi murderers.”

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