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Six Jews Killed, Five Wounded in Arab Ambush Near Dead Sea; Army Rushes Investigation

April 20, 1949
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Six Jews were killed and five wounded–three of them seriously–when a group of civilian hikers was ambushed early today south of the Dead Sea “between Sodom and Ain Eussub. Those who escaped the ambush and succeeded in making their way to an Army installation said the assailants were Bedouins. An Israeli Army unit was immediately dispatched to the scene of the attack to track down the ambushers.

The infiltration of Arabs into Israel has “been under surveillance for a long time but was made public only today following police action in Jerusalem designed to comb out Arab infiltrates from the city. Israeli police apprehended a band of Arab Looters whose members fled to a position beyond the Jewish lines. The Arabs left behind them several wounded men who sought to resist the Israeli police. They also left in Jewish territory a number of donkeys loaded with loot.

Infiltration of Arabs into Jewish territory on a larger scale has been observed both in upper and lower Galilee, where members of an entire Arab village sometimes return to their former homes en masse, When asked by Israeli authorities where they found refuge during the fighting, these Arabs usually reply that they were “hidden in caves.”

Meanwhile, Arab newspapers arriving here reveal that 30,000 Transjordan Arabs have entered refugee camps set up in Transjordan for Palestine Arabs who fled their homes last year following the outbreak of Israeli-Arab hostilities. By mingling with the Palestine Arab refugees, the Trans Jordanians are able to receive rations distributed by the Red Cross and other international refugee aid organizations.

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