1300 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24912, 27 June 1946, Page 5

1300 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

SHIP FOR PALESTINE intercepted

PASSENGERS EXPECTED TO LAND <N-Z. Press Association—Copyright) 9 PJn ) t LONDON, Jure 26. disembarkation of 1300 Jewish ~??d Sjrls ? rom the illegal immigrant ship Beauharnais will begin at ilS >re : ak to-day,” says Reuter’s J erusalem correspondent. was °® cia Hy stated in Jerusalem I® 8 cari 7 i ng over 1000 immix d been intercepted by a British destroyer and was being escorted io Haifa where the passengers were expected to land. The Jewish resistance movement is to •be standing to to-night along the Palestine coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa in readiness for the expected arrival of the illegal immigrant ship. • “tP 1 ? J ® r V salem correspondent of the Daily Telegraph” says that the refugee; snip, which is now en route for • H nder British destroyer escort, Beauharnais, which sailed from th e Gulf of Genoa on June 19. A document containing a full description of the means by which the Jewish Haganah organisation carries 9 u ,t 111 egal immigration has just fallen into British hands. The document claims that the Haganah has been instrumental in bringing many thousands of Jews to Palestine. Its representatives operate throughout Europe, bring immigrants to the Mediterranean, and provide vessels to transport them to Palestine. Speed-boats and radio apparatus are used to facilitate landings at isolated spots and dispersal of the refugees among the Jewish settlements. The refugee ships communicate With the Haganah s land stations on a prearranged wave-length, and receive oraers where to land. Speed-boats dash ashore while Haganah troops guard the landing points ‘‘from British interference.” / Reuter’s Jerusalem correspondent quotes an unconfirmed report that the British naval base at Haifa and the installations used during the war at Beirut will close down. Only one flotilla of British destroyers is now based on Haifa.

A redisposition of the British police forces is being carried out in Tel Aviv, designed to leave the Jewish police force to fight the city’s increasing crime wave. A British police officer said that 30 British policemen were being withdrawn from Tel Aviv.