Israeli Offensive In The Negev Continues

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 October 1948, Page 6

Israeli Offensive In The Negev Continues

LONDON, October 18.

“Correspondents have not been allowed to visit the Negev area, but it is obvious that Israeli columns are ranging far and wide and that air operations have been extended beyond the Negev’s southern boundary,” says the Tel Aviv correspondent of The Times. “It is believed in Tel Aviv that the present limited counteroffensive will be extended during the next few days. The official view is that the United Nations truce machinery has broken down, and that the Israeli Army had no alternative but to seize positions vital to the defence of Israeli settlements.

“As these settlements • are surrounded by the main Egyptian force in Palestine this may prove to be a battle for the Negev, which is certainly Israel’s covert intention.” A United Nations spokesman in Haifa said yesterday that Israeli forces , had launched an air and artillery attack on Gaza, the capital of the new Arab Government for Palestine. Unofficial reports. from Tel Aviv say that a Jewish motorised column, with strong air support, has fought its way to within a few miles of Gaza.

After a talk with the American representative at the United Nations (Mr Warren Austin), the general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, Mr Henry Morgenthau, jun., criticised the United Nations for its delay in making a decision on Palestine.

Mr Morgenthau said that a strong Palestine State would be a bulwark against Communism in the Middle East. “The United Nations is running a

great risk of becoming an international debating society like the Disarmament Conference back in the thirties,” he said. “The Bernadotte report should be the minimum basis for a settlement.” Asked what chance he thought there was of action by the United Nations, Mr Morgenthau said: “I am afraid that Palestine 4 may be sold down the river.”