PALESTINE UNREST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26641, 11 December 1947, Page 7

PALESTINE UNREST

OUTLOOK DARKENING CLASHES IN TEL-AVIV AREA ARABS’ DETERMINED EFFORTS CONTINUE N.Z.P.A. —Reuter—Copyright. Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 10. The outlook in Palestine is darkening steadily, says the Jerusalem correspondent of The Times, In the last 48 hours, 23 Jews, 9 Arabs, and 3 British have been killed in Arab-Jewish clashes, mostly in the area between Jaffa and Tel-Aviv. Arabs yesterday sharply protested against the Palestine Government’s decision to leave the Jews to police the Tel-Aviv area themselves, one Arab newsnaper declaring that it was another* proof that Britain approved partition, and was going to carry it out, Dr Hussein Khalidi, Secretary-general of the Higher Arab Organisation, said that the 5000 Arabs in the, Tel-Aviv area would now become hostages for the Haganah, adding that the Palestine Government W9uld be held responsible for their lives. Dr Khalidi later told representatives of the foreign press that the Arabs were not bluffing when expressing their determination to prevent partition. The Arabs, he said, had expected that the United Nations Organisation would solve the Palestine problem on a basis of equity, but instead it had been solved through political blackmail, power politics, and even corruption and \ bribery. If this were the way the U.N.O. would solve problems, the sooner it disappeared the better. ,

In the first border clash between Syrians and Palestine Jews, Syrian villagers, armed with machine guns, repulsed Jewish attacks near two villages and killed three Jews. Three Arabs were seriously wounded. Volunteers from Syria The Palestine Liberation Committee in Damascus issued a communique stating: “ Twenty-seven thousand Syrians have volunteered for service This total excludes tribes who might provide 100,000 fighters.” Volunteers whose training is completed are being sent to Palestine in groups to occupy positions and begin guerrilla warfare. One thousand Palestine Arabs who arrived in Damascus in the last fortnight are undergoing intensive commando training. It is hoped that 2000 Arabs will complete their commando course by the end of December. Fawzi El Kawukjo, who led the Arab revolt in 1936, is organising the training of the “ Yermouk ” volunteer division for Palestine. Haganah members to-day bombed two Arab houses in the Jaffa-Tel-Aviv area. They claimed that fire from houses killed four Jews last night. Another Jew was killed in the Tel-Aviv border area to-day. The Nahariya City Council, a nortn Palestine Jewish town outside the proposed Jewish State, said the police removed “licensed and sealed" arms from the city building, leaving the city disarmed. Arab League Decisions Reuter’s Cairo correspondent says one fact clearly emerged from the Arab League session—regular Arab armies will not intervene in Palestine unless foreign aid is given the Jews and Arab guerrillas are exposed to great dangers. The declarations of Arab statesmen, however, show that the Arabs plan to station regular armies along the Palestine borders ready to intervene if necessary. Palestine Arabs in any event will not launch any large-scale action until the British military withdrawal is completed. The British United Press correspondent at Cairo says, in spite of their military preparations and war-like* statements, the Arabs are believed to have decided to try every possible diplomatic manoeuvre to prevent partition before resorting to armed force. Attempt to Reopen Discussions A message from New York says that the United States and Russia, which fought together in the United Nations Assembly for the partition of Palestine, joined hands again to-day and defeated an attempt by the Arab nations to reopen the partition question in the Security Council. Over the repeated protests of Faris el-Khoury (Syria), the only Arab country delegate in the Council, other Council members postponed indefinitely all discussion of the Holy Land problem. No vote, was taken. The Council simply “accepted” the official notice of the Assembly’s resolution from the Secretary-general, Mr Trygve Lie.