BRITISH NAVY NEW SWEEP

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 August 1946, Page 5

BRITISH NAVY NEW SWEEP

Illegal Jewish ' Immigrants 1 Curb ou Smuggling into Palestine (Rec.' 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 9., The arrival of the cruiser Ajax ar Haifa is regarded in London as the first move in the preparation of a new swoop against the smuggling of Jews into Palestine, says Reuter’s. A week-end signal from London is expected to set in motion “Operation Round-up.”

Armed boarding parties are likely to be drafted to the destroyers, corvettes and frigates which are patrolling the sea lanes of the Mediterranean. These parties will board intercepted ships carrying immigrants. They will be responsible for the maintenance of order until the ships are escorted to pre-arranged ports. Prize Crews. The parties are regarded as prize crews. They must not use violence but be armed against active resistance. The actual strength of the naval forces for “Operation Round-up” is unknown, but the ships available are in excess of those that were available in similar circumstances which arose before the war. In Jerusalem to-day the Jewish National Council issued a statement protesting against the obstruction of refugee ships from reaching Palestine and also General Barker’s order on July 26 declaring a community responsible for a crime, against the alleged maltreatment of Jewish cur-few-breakers in military detention camps, against the deprival of traditional rights in regard to the Wailing Wall and against the search and curfew in Tel Aviv.

The statement urged the immediate release of members of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish aNtional Council and others from detention. Protest from Cyprus.

“The leaders of all the Cyprus parties except the Leftists have protested against the diverting of illegal Jewis immigrants from Palestine to Cyprus,” says thb Nicosia correspondent of the Daily Express. “The first batch of immigrants. is expected to reach the island on August 12. A British infantry battalion and also six Royal Air Force Lancasters arrived at Cyprus yesterday.”

The non-fraternisation order forbidding British troops in Palestine to enter Jewish owned restaurants, cinemas, and private dwellings has been cancelled. The order was issued on July 25 by Major-General Sir Evelyn Barker, G.O.C. the British troops in Palestine, after the dynamiting of the King David Hotel. STRICT CENSORSHIP IMPOSED IN PALESTINE - (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 9. The strictest censorship ever imposed on the Palestine press and radio blacked out all news connected with illegal Jbwjsh immigration, says Reuters Jerusalem correspondent. British troops to-day are completing the fortification of strong points covering a square mile in the heart of Jerusalem, including outlying Army and Government properties. Earbed wire festoons Army and Government properties, and machine-gun posts command all the entrances to the- bombed King David Hotel, which is now completely occupied by military headquarters in Palestine. Reuters reports that troops, aided by civilian contractors, put up 200 tents within a double-fenced, 10ft high, barbed wire enclosure at Caraolus camp, a mile outside Famagusta (Cyprus), apparently for the reception of illegal Jewish 'immigrants being delivered from Palestine. Eight 20ft watch towers are believed to carry searchlights erected around the perimeter.