The Irgun Zvai Leumi tonight assumed responsibility for cutting the Iraq-Palestine last night and said that its “soldiers” had attacked a Royal Air Force Field at Ein Shemer, south of Haifa.
An anonymous caller who telephoned all Palestine newspapers to convey the Irgun message, said that “our soldiers safely returned to their bases.” He denied reports that the Haganah had kidnapped 20 members of the Irgun.
The new outbreak of violence alerted British troops throughout Palestine and military patrols were combing the area around Haifa the entire day. The police communique said that the pipeline had been cut at two places near Haifa, but the Irgun said that it had blasted the line in four places.
The attack on the RAF camp occurred ahortly after midnight, and was launched by a barrage from small mortars. Armored cars returned the fire and the attackers were driven off after fifteen minutes. There were no casualties and no damage. Atruck, which was used in the operation, was found abandoned near the camp. It had been stolen a few hours earlier and the driver taken to Tel Aviv where he was released this morning.
Twelve men, allegedly Jews, attacked a storehouse of the Naval, Army, Air Force Institutes near Jaffa last night and escaped with two shotguns and other goods, the police announced. Several false bomb warnings emptied government offices here and in Jerusalem today and disrupted a press conference being conducted in Tel Aviv by the Assistant Information officer of the Palestine Government.
A report that the naval and military authorities have decided to convert Haifa from a commercial into a naval port has aroused considerable concern in the Jewish community, since there are no comparable alternative port facilities in the country. The report, which comes from Arab sources, says that since the British are being compelled to abandon Alexandria, they intend to make Haifa their chief naval base. Commercial traffic destined for Palestine will be shipped to Alexandria or port Said, and come from Egypt by rail.
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.
