TENSION ON PALESTINE FRONTIERBRITISH TROOPS SENT TO AKABA

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 March 1949, Page 5

TENSION ON PALESTINE FRONTIERBRITISH TROOPS SENT TO AKABA

(Rec 10 a.m.) LONDON, March 13. It is officially announced that British reinforcements, including troops, artillery and armour, have been unloading at Akaba since last evening, says Reuter’s Amman correspondent. Although the reinforcing force is small numerically, it is said to be compact and heavily armed. Middle East headquarters are reported to have issued instructions to the Akaba garrison to observe a strict policy of non-interference with the Jews on the Palestine Red Sea coast. An Israeli armoured force, advancing along Wadi Araba, is now stated to be encamped in the area known as Wadi Ajarmah, midway between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. They are reported to be sending out continuous patrols, some of which engaged in skirmishes with Bedouin Arabs.

The Arab Legion outpost of Gharandal faces the Israeli encampment across the frontier.

In Tel Aviv today Israeli Government quarters said the Israeli troops are now in full possession of a six miles long coastal strip on the Gulf of Akaba, which the United Nations partition resolution granted to Israel. An Israeli military spokesman described the Gulf of Akaba operation as “a regrouping of forces in the Negev following the Israeli-Egyptian armistice agreement, which provided for a reduction in certain zones of the Negev.” The occupation of the area opens the way for the Israeli resumption of the export of potash from the Dead Sea works through a harbour to be built on the Red Sea.

The Israeli-Transjordan armistice talks on Rhodes were adjourned until tomorrow after a one-hour session today. The UNO mediator, Dr Bunche, and his advisers are working out a new approach to the complicated problem of the Jerusalem armistice lines. The War Office announced yesterday that the British detachment at the Red Sea port of Akaba was being reinforced. The strength of the reinforcements was not disclosed. The Cairo correspondent of the British United Press reports that a regiment of British field artillery is being moved to Akaba. These reinforcements are not expected to reach Akaba before the beginning of next week. They are reported to be moving by sea. Israelis Entrenched The Cairo correspondent of The Times says that Israeli troops entrenched at Um Reshresh, about a mile and a half from the outer defences of Akaba, have been warned that any attempt to cross the Transjordan frontier will be met by force. “It is no"t known whether the decision. to reinforce the British garrison at Akaba has been taken as a result of a further request from the Transjordan Government, or whether the British Government has acted on its own initiative,” says the diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegrapii. “British troops went to Akaba in January after the Transjordan Government had requested military assistance under the British-Transjor-dan alliance of 1948. The request was made after Israeli troops had attacked Egyptian troops in the Negev.” Troops Placed On Alert A correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Akaba says that since Israeli troops arrived on the western shore of the Gulf of Akaba, British troops have been placed on the alert and all British gun positions have been fully manned. Across the desert scrub country separating the two forces and through which the frontier runs, the correspondent says that he can see Jewish vehicles moving in a small column. He adds: “British officers in Akaba

acknowledge responsibility under the terms of the British-Transjordan Treaty for defending Transjordan territory in the Gulf of Akaba if attacked, while continuing to refrain from any action in Palestine territory. “The difficulties of maintaining a garrison on the Palestine strip of desert foreshore are so great that it is believed that the real object of the Israeli advance is stake a claim to the Palestine Negev, as well as to make a gesture of defiance towards the British occupied village.” The Amman correspondent of the Associated Press says that by occupying Um Reshresh, the Jews appear to have reached the main objective of their campaign in this territory. The other main column is moving across the Akaba Valley towards Gharandal, a village 30 miles north of Akaba.