Jewish reinforcements, including, armored vehicles, were sent today to Jeba, where Arabs opened fire last night against Jewish positions attempted to block the main Tel Aviv-Haifa road. Jeba, an Arab village, is about 10 miles south of Haifa.
An official Israeli communique said that a number of Jews were wounded in the engagement and that Jewish troops are talking “appropriate action,” Two American marines driving U.N. vehicles were fired upon by the Arabs for 40 minutes and were forced to take cover in a ditch. They later returned to their headquarters.
Telephone lines between Tel Aviv and Haifa were cut during the night, and no details of the fighting at Jeba are available. However, Israeli authorities have made it clear to the U.N. truce observers that they are determined to protect the Haifa-Tel Aviv road.
Col. Thord Bonde, chief of staff to U.N. Palestine mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, was reported here today to have been fired upon from Arab lines while trying to bring about a cease-fire in the fighting at Jeba, He was finally rescued from a precarious position by a United Nations jeep displaying four U.N. flags, while a U.N. plane circled overhead, A French U.N. observer was killed last night and his driver sounded when their jeep struck a landmine on the Tiberias-Nazareth road.
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.
