More than 13,500 Jewish internees in Cyprus called off their hunger strike this afternoon, after refusing food for over 90 hours, it was officially announced here tonight. The announcement revealed that many children had joined the fast which began Friday night.
Meanwhile, a refugee ship carrying 730 visaless Jews has been intercepted by British naval craft and is being brought into Haifa. It is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. The vessel is named the Shaar Yishuv. First reports said a boarding party had encountered no resistance.
The strike was called off by the central committee of the Caraolos camp following a discussion with representatives of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency and following an appeal from the Jewish National Council for Palestine. It was called to protest the government’s decision to cut the April transport of returness to Palestine from 750 to 375 to make up for the 375 who are reported to have escaped from the vessel Susanna last month.
Rabbi M.L. Heilperin, representative in Cyprus of the British Chief Rabbi’s Council, has cabled to Colonial Minister Arthur Creech-Jones, declaring that the official account of the killing of Moshe Lehrer, one of the internees, last Friday, was false. The communique said he was shot and several others wounded when the refugees attempted to break out of one camp. Rabbi Heilperin states, however, that the guards fired on a peaceful demonstration.
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