Jewish officials were tonight awaiting with grim prehension the scheduled disembarkation tomorrow morning at nearby Port du Bouc of 500 refugee Jews beign returned from Palestine aboard three British prison ships.
The scope of the preparations being made by French officials would seem to instate that they anticipate that the refugees will be landed. Original plans to disbark them into lighters, which would have facilitated the refugees’ refusal to have the ships, have been abandoned and the transports are now due to dock at Port Bouc piers.
Special trains have been ordered to carry the Jews from the ships to dispersal into and plans have been made to house 1,500 of the immigrants in the Miramas race back, 1,000 in a former U.S. Army camp and the remainder in other installations. out 400 are expected to require hospitalization.
A large official delegation, including Andre Blumel, political advisor of the Jewish Agency in France, who is here in a governmental capacity, arrived late last night to observe the ships’ landing and to ascertain whether use of force by the British to effect disembarkation of the 4,500 would involve a violation of international law.
FRENCH NOT EXPECTED TO INTERVENE IF BRITISH USE FORCE
Members of the delegation pointed out today that one of the key issues is the {SPAN}##stion{/SPAN} of whether the three transports are listed as merchant ships or British warships. If they are in the former category, the French have certain authority over them. However, if they are listed as warships, they are considered British territory and, as such, inviolate. Also involved is whether the crew are merchant seamen or in the Royal Navy. It seems likely that the French authorities will not intervene even if force is used. A high French official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: We cannot start a war with Britain over this incident.”
Final preparations for receiving the deportees were discussed this morning at a meeting of French officials with the captain of the destroyer Cardigan Bay, one of the warships escorting the deportation ferries. The Cardigan Bay put in at Marseille early this morning.
Local and Paris authorities have been holding almost continuous consultations with representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Marine Ministry, the Army, the Red Cross and local health authorities. Special attention is being paid to sanitation precautions, since it is feared that epidemics may have broken out on the deportation ships. Underfoot everywhere are more than 100 newspapermen who have been assigned to cover the landing which has attracted world-wide attention.
Meanwhile, a report from Paris quotes Jewish Agency quarters there as declaring that strong pressure is being exerted on the refugees to make them land. The Agency statement is being interpreted in some quarters as an indication that the Zionists now believe that the refugees will disembark.
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.
