477,000 to Vote Jan. 25 in
Israel's National Election
By unanimous vote, 37 members of the Israeli State
Council decided to conduct the national elections on Jan. 25.
Minister of Interior Isaac Gruenbaum reported that identity
cards would be issued to qualified voters by the middle of
January and that 477,000 men and women are eligible to vote.
A 19-man committee, comprising representatives of 12 po-
litical parties, was elected to sup-
ervise the elections, without. UN
supervision, as was originally in-
•tended.
In Paris, after Dr. Ralph Bunche
had urged recognition of Israel's
and the Jewish State's admission
to the UN, Britain's Minister of
State Hector McNeil continued to
follow his government's anti-
Israel line by referring to the
Nov. 29, 1947, UN partition de-
cision as unworkable.
Other important events relat-
ing to the State of Israel which
occurred during the past week
include the following:
On Thanksgiving Day, the
United States naval vessel Beat-
ty, flagship of the 6th Mediter-
ranean Task Force, anchored off
Haifa, invited 35 Israeli boys,
mostly of Sephardic extraction,
. for a holiday party. The boys
were treated to ice cream, a pro-
gram o f entertainment a n d
movies. The ship's cook apolo-
gized for not having kosher tur-
keys to serve them. The Israelis
sang traditional Jewish songs and
14-year-old Israel Dayan present-
ed a Hanukah candlestick to the
ship's crew as a symbol of Israeli
Thanksgiving.
Israeli Army officers will be
permitted to address election
meetings during the forthcom-
ing election campaign. They
will not, however, be permitted
to speak in uniform. By a 29-7
vote, the Council approved a
kosher food ordinance for the
Israeli Army which guarantees
that all religious soldiers, are to
receive kosher food. The Min-
isters of Defense and Religion
were instructed to carry out the
new law.
When Israel's capital is finally
selected—Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or
•Haifa—a world-wide competition
among architects will be an-
nounced to determine the blue-
print for the permanent Israeli
seat of government. This was
made known by Shlomo Arazi,
chief engineer for Hakiryah, the
present official seat of the gov-
ernment. Arazi predicted that
under any circumstances Hakir-
yah—the former German colony
Sarona—would continue to serve
as the capital for several years.
Uurrency in circulation in
Israel at the present time al-
ready exceeds $116,000,000, it
was announced by the Anglo-
Palestine Bank issue depart-
ment.
President Truman still stands
on his campaign pledges with re-
' gard to American policy toward
- Israel, Rep.. Sol Bloom of New
York told reporters after a White
House call.
The only solution to the prob-
lem of Arab refugees is an ex-
change of populations, Meir
Grossman, head of the economic
department of the Jewish Agency
and chairman of the World Zion-
ist Revisionist Organization, de-
clared at a press conference fol-
lowing his arrival from Israel.
The role played by the late Col.
David Marcus, of Brooklyn, in or-
ganizing the Jewish fighting
forces in Israel from "a crowd of
guerilla fighters" into a well-dis-
ciplined army is described in an
article published this week in the
Saturday Evening Post.
The Soviet delegate introduced
.a resolution demanding the com-
plete withdrawal of all foreign
troops from Israel and the Arab
part of Palestine. The Russian
.declared that the presence of
alien troops on Palestine soil hin-
dered the normal development of
Israel and the independent Arab
state foreseen in the partition res-
olution of last Nov. 29. The Rus-
sian proposal, however, was de-
feated:
0 •
Commenting on the 'British
resolution, an Israeli spokes-
, man- declared that it is "an in-
mittee authority to press for the •
Bernadotte recommendations as
a substitute for the partition
decision of lastNovember.
A London magistrate fined five
persons and a corporation a total
of $6,660 after their conviction on
charges of having attempted to
send armored trucks to Palestine
from London. The magistrate also
ordered 35 vehicles seized by cus-
toms officials in the shipment al-
legedly bound for Israel de-
stroyed. The request for this ac-
tion was made by customs offi-
cials.
Protest Egyptian Seizure
The United States government
has made a protest to the Egyp-
tian government over the seizure
'of the American ship "The Flying
Trader" and removal of her cargo
and is now discussing the matter
with the Egyptian government,
Secretary of State George C.
Marshall told a press conference.
The United States made a for-
mal protest against the action of
the Egyptian Government last
week in seizing the cargo of the
U. S. merchant ship, the Flying
Trader, on the pretext that it was
bound for Israel, a State Depart-
ment official said.
A State Department spokes-
man said in Washington that the
38 tractors seized by the Egyp-
tians were part of an original
shipment of 51 tractors that had
been shipped from New York
bound for. Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Because of "undue delay in dis-
charge" at Haifa, the spokesman
said, only. 12 tractors were taken
off the ship and the rest were
shipped to Bomby where they
remained in storage until their
New York owner requested their
return to New York. The rest of
the cargo, 4,000 bags of rice load-
ed in Siam, was bound for Genoa
for 'trans-shipment to "various
firms in Switzerland," the spokes-
man said. The rice also was seized
by the Egyptian Government.
Lydda airport was opened to
civilian traffic. The field has not
been used by non-military craft
since the outbreak of fighting
more than half-a-year ago.
Communications Minister Da-
vid Reinez, speaking at ceremo-
nies marking the opening of the
airport, declared that , "we have
returned to Lydda—this time as
. the rightful owners." The air-
port stretches over 500 acres
and has the latest technical
equipment. At present, Lydda
airport can handle 60 planes
daily. Immigration Minister
Moshe Shapiro announced at
the ceremonies that 2,000 DPs
will arrive from Europe at Lyd-
da next month.
In London, Robert Graves, for-
mer British mayor of Jerusalem,
defended Israeli rights to the
Negev on the ground that "they
already dominate it" and that
"they will make something of it,"
and added that "in the hands of
the Arabs its possibilities will
never be exploited."
The 5,163 Jews of military
age at present held in the
Cyprus Xylotymbou Camp filed
an application for a writ of
habeas corptis in the name of
their camp leader, Mordecai
Herring, in the Cyprus Supreme
Court. The date of the hearing
has not yet been fixed.
In Paris, during the discussions
before the UN Political Commit-
tee, Lester B. Pearson of Canada,
Oscar Lange of Poland, Semion
Tsarapkin of Russia, Herbert B.
Evatt and Mr. Hood of Australia
made strong demands for imple-
mentation of the Original Nov. 29,
1947, UN partition decision. Brit-.
ish aims were condemned by
Russian spokesmen. Henry Cat-
direct attempt to secure the tan of the Arab Higher Commit-
adoption of the Bernadotte plan tee assailed the Jews and reject-
for mutilating - Israel." • The ed peace offers. -
spokesman asserted that the
The U.S. amendments, as pres-
. British opposition to the Aus- ented by 'Dr. Phillip C. Jessup,
. tralian proposal for negotia- called for the appointment • of a
• lions pointed up the fact-that three-nation conciliation com-
the British resolution-would kill mission to replace the 'UN Pales-
. su .hope .01 negotiations by: tine mediator and to take over
,
_venting, ht. the eeneittaties.
THE JEWISH NEWS
-
3
Friday, "December 3, 1948
tion of the Nov. 16 resolution
adopted by the Secuity Council
ordering an armistice between
the Jews and Arabs. The amend-
ments stress the importance of
direct Israeli-Arab negotiations
and definitely remove the bound-
ary principles recomInended by
the late UN Palestine mediator
Count Folke Bernadotte. The
internationalization of Jerusalem
is strongly urged in 'the U.S.
amendments.
Abba S. Eben, Israeli spokes-
man at the UN, told the Political
Committee that it • was impos-
sible to support the UN parti-
tion resolution and also the
Bernadotte report, which seeks
to detach two-thirds of Israeli
territory, assigned under the
Nov. 29 resolution, he added,
"whether Israel likes it or not."
The Egyptian delegate, at a
meeting of the UN Ad Hoc Poli-
tical Committee, which was con-
sidering applications for mem-
bership to the United Nations,
threatened that his country would
walk out of the UN if Israel
were admitted to membership.
Eben told the seven-nation sub-
committee of the Security Council
that compliance by Israel with
the Nov. 4 withdrawal order
might be a "suicidal gesture" if
it did not first receive an assur-
ance that Egypt was prepared to
respect the Security Council's au-
thority by attending armistice ne-
gotiations. The Egyptian brigade
now surrounded at Faluja, Eben
said, is no threat or burden to
Israel, but if it were permitted to
withdraw to link up with the
forces at Gaza, it would restore
the Egyptian Army's ability to
fight.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at
ceremonies marking the open-
ing of "Davar House"—the
new premises of the Laborite
daily newspaper Davar`-
Premier David NA Gurion de-
clared that "we Jews can be
happier this year, but our hap-
piness is not yet complete."
Fourteen members of the Stern
Group escaped from a detention
camp near Tel Aviv. A wide
search to apprehend them is
presently under way._
A total of 80,000 residents of
northern Israel, most of them
Arabs, were inoculated in the
past week by the Israeli Army
medical service against small-
pox.
Truman to Demand DP . Act's Revision
NEW YORK, (JPS) — Reports
from three federal agencies —
the State and Justice Departments
and the Displaced Persons Com-
mission — on why the DP Act
passed last June is working so
tardily and so poorly, will be
used by President Truman to
back up his demands for a re-
vision of that bias-ridden Jaw, in
a special message soon after Con-
gress is organized Jan. 3, N. Y.
Post Washington correspondent
Oliver Pilat reports. On the basis
of preliminary studies the chief
changes to be demanded will be:
1) Increasing the number of
DPs admitted from the present
205,000 authorized during the
next two years, to 400,000 during
the next four years. -
2) Ironing out the occupational,
racial and religious discrimina-
tions in the present law which
has kept down the number of
DPs admitted so far to 1,615.
Representative Emanuel Celler,
who is slated to be chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee
which will consider DP legisla-
tion, has already proposed a ten-
tative substitute for the present
DP law. Celler would include
refugees from racial and religious
persecution in other parts of the
world than German, Austria and
Italy. He would also close the
door to the Volksdeutsche, ex-
Nazi fifth coltunnists, who are
eligible for entry under the pre-
sent law.
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