Arab Sheikhs Give War Warning To UNO

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 October 1947, Page 7

Arab Sheikhs Give War Warning To UNO

(Recd. 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, October 22. A conference of 1000 Arab and Kurd sheiks at Baghdad todaydecided to reject the plans for the partition of Palestine, to regard partition as an act of aggression against the Arab States likely to lead to the outbreak of a-holy war and to boycott diplomatically and economically every State supporting Zionism and partition. Reuter’s Baghdad correspondent, in reporting this, adds that the conference decided that every sheik must prepare “every man able to carry arms and fight in the defence of Palestine.’’ Salih Jabur, Prime Minister of Iraq, and 10,0010 fully-armed tribesmen attended the conference.

The Associated Press Jerusalem correspondent says a Jewish Agency spokesman announced that the newly-established legal department of the Jewish National Council is now drafting a constitution for a Jewish State in Palestine. He added that throughout the Holy Land members are being' enlisted in the Mishmar Haam (a type of home guard) with a view to. training people over 40 in first-aid and other civilian duties which might be necessary in an emergency. The younger people would be expected to co-operate in other security services of Palestine Jewry.

International Force

Irgun Zvai Leumi headquarters in a statement to Jewish newspapers in Tel Aviv declared that the Irgun would not shoot at the soldiers of neutral or “friendly” Powers if an international police force were created for Palestine. Two powerful explosions occurred in Jaffa today, injuring three Arabs and causing damage estimated at thousands of pounds. The police be-

lieve that “boycott bombs” placed by Arab underground men in shops selling Jewish goods caused the explosions. - ■ ' Anchel Speilman, believed to be a former leader of the Stern Gang, escaped yesterday from the heavily fortified central prison in Jerusalem. The police refuse to give details of his escape. Speilman was serving a 10-year sentence for carrying arms. He escaped despite barbed-wire entanglements and a strong guard armed with automatic weapons. Proceedings at UNO -

The United Nations Palestine Commission at New York today voted by 40 to 6 to give the chairman, , Dr Evatt, authority to name the members of the sub-committee which will draft the blueprint for the partition of Palestine.

An earlier Soviet proposal to include the Big Five in the sub-com-mittee was defeated by 32 to 6, after Dr Evatt had pointed out that the Soviet plan would create a fiasco because Britain did not want to serve.