COMMUNISTS FROM RUSSIA SAILED FOR PALESTINE

Grey River Argus, 4 February 1948, Page 5

COMMUNISTS FROM RUSSIA SAILED FOR PALESTINE

[N.Z.P.A.—Reuter Cable], (Rec. 9.10). LONDON, February 3. The British Government has drawn the United States Government’s attention to the fact that documents which were found on a number of the fifteen thousand Jewish immigrants whom the Royal Navy recently intercepted in the ships Pan- York and Pan-Crescent, showed that they were Communists.

Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent, in reporting this, adds: Britain has also pointed out that one thousand of these immigrants were' Russianspeaking. ALLEGED SOVIET THREAT TO PALESTINE CHRISTCHURCH, February 3. Rev. L. W. G. Duff-Forbes, general manager of the Biblical Research Society for Australia, India, Africa, and New Zealand, in an interview, said: “The Russian throat to Palestine should by no means be ignored, and it is regrettable that Great Britain allowed the vacation of a field which could be taken into protective custody by Russia—with the ultimate destruction of our entire British interests and future welfare”. Mr Duff-Forbes is visiting Christchurch in the course of a lecture tour of New Zealand. “Very few people are aware of the amazing potential wealth in the Dead Sea; with the vital oilfields, its value in both peace and war is almost beyond calculation, and it forms a most alluring bait to any nation antagonistic to our Empire”, said Mr DuffForbes. “The threat is by no means an idle one. It is established beyond any suggestion of doubt that former Nazi officers are aiding in the training of Arab units in Palestine, and in my opinion it looks as if Russia is trying to bring about a position where she can exert her usual influence”, he said. _ Russia also had designs on India, said Mr Duff-Forbes. She had been nibbling through Afghanistan for many years, seeking to increase her prestige and influence ‘there. The partition of Palestine would make no difference to the work of the Biblical Research Society, he said, but nc one could have been more pleased with the decision of the British Government than M. Stalin. Russia, without a doubt, had turned its eyes towards the East, and the weak policy of the British Government, was playing right into the hands of the Kremlin. '