ISRAELI TROOP MOVES

Chronicle (Levin), 11 March 1949, Page 5

ISRAELI TROOP MOVES

(N.Z.P.A..

—Reut.p.r

London Diplomatic Sourees Sfill Confused

nrmnrirt'h.t )

Received Friday, 10.50 a.m. LONDON, March 10. ■Diplomatic sourees in London were stili not ciear today whether the movement of Israeli forces in the direction of the Transjordan port of Akaba, where the British trops are stationed, has been definitely halted by the Transjordan Arab Legion. No offlcial reports of fighting betWeen Israeli and Transjordan troops -in Palestine have reached London and the only offlcial news'avahab'e was the Transjordan Government's statement that Israeli troops were moving in the direction of .Akaba. In London, a threat of trouble in the Akaba region is considered particularly dangerous from . the ■British viewpoint, for this is the oniy region in which the Bri.ish Government coul'd again become directly involved in the Palestine situation. In Tel Aviv today, a Jewish mi.itary spokesman, Lie'ut.-Colonel Moshe Perlman, said: "All our units are within Israeli territory We have not crossed the frontier and we have no intention of doing so. We have no designs on Transjordan or on Port Akaba." Reuter's Amman correspondent says that, according to reliable sourees, a Jewish force is digging .in near Akaba and waiting to link up with a larger force advancing along the Wadi Akaba area. Reliable Transjordan sourees said that the Jewish forces were equipped with heavy tanks carrying 75 millimetre guns. A British' spokesman inv Cairn said today that no steps were being taken to alter the size of the British garrison in Akaba as a result of the reported Jewish troop movements.