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All Fronts Quiet, Israeli Spokesman Declares; Fighting with Syrians Continues in North

July 21, 1948
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All fronts in Palestine were comparatively quiet today, although some fighting continued on the Syrian front at Tel Azazia, in north-eastern Palestine, and at Mishmar Hayarden, an official Israeli announcement said. The communique also revealed that two new attempts by Syrian forces to cross the Jordan River into Palestine were foiled by the Israeli Army.

Lajjun, 12 miles northwest of Jenin, is still in Jewish hands, an Israeli spokesman said. He dismissed Iraqi claims that the town has been retaken by Arab units. An attempt by Egyptian armored units to retake Hatta in the Negev failed and the Egyptians were forced to withdraw, the spokesman added.

An Israeli Foreign Office official denied that Jewish aircraft were over Egypt last night when an unidentified piano dropped a bomb on Cairo. It is believed here that the incident was engineered by quarters interested in “causing trouble,” he said. (A report from Alexandria said today that air raid sirens wailed for 20 minutes in that Egyptian metropolis this afternoon,) Tel Aviv was alerted last night, as was Haifa this morning, but there were no bombings.

The official, replying to correspondents’ questions, declared that the “Israeli Government accepted this truce on the assumption that there would be no restrictions whatsoever on immigration, not even for persons of military age.” He revealed that during the ten days of fighting between the two truces, the Israelis occupied 250 square miles of non-Israeli territory in the Galilee.

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