“DUNKIRK” FLEET EVACUATES REFUGEES FROM HAIFA: ARABS BLAMED FOR FIGHTING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22620, 24 April 1948, Page 5

“DUNKIRK” FLEET EVACUATES REFUGEES FROM HAIFA: ARABS BLAMED FOR FIGHTING

(11.30 a.m.) JERUSALEM, April 23. All Arabs have been evacuated from Haifa, according to the Jewish Agency spokesman. Thousands of Arabs went to Tyre and Si don by sea, and British Army lorries evacuated the remainder.

Policy Act by Grand Mufti , The spokesman added that the Arab t evacuation was an act of policy on the part of Haj El Amin Husseini, Jeru- : salem’s former Grand Mufti, who hoped thereby to persuade the Arab , States to send more forces to Pales- . tine. ’ The British United Press correspond- ' ent in Beirut says that thousands of Arab women and children refugees from Haifa have readied Sidon aboard a "Dunkirk” fleet of 20 schooners and many small sailing vessels. Three women gave birth at sea. The Lebanese President visited the refugees and promised relief. It is officially estimated that the Arabs lost 100 killed and 100 wounded and the Jews 14 killed and 40 wounded in the Haifa fighting. The commanding officer of the Coldstream Guards and two other British officers were wounded during the Arabs’ evacuation by sea. Attack Not a Massacre The Palestine High Commissioner, General Sir Alan Cunningham, sent a cable to Mr. Creech Jones at Lake Success blaming the Arabs for the Haifa fighting yesterday which was “the direct consequence of continuous Arab attacks on the Jews during the past four days.” The message added that the Jewish attack was not a massacre. The British Army was completely impartial and the military commander at Haifa did everything possible to stop the fighting by negotiation. From Amman, King Abdullah, of Transjordan, telegraphed to General Cunningham expressing his anxiety about the situation in Palestine and saying that Transjordan might soon have to intervene. The Jews are attacking three Arab hill villages west of Jerusalem and north of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, and rumours are current that the Haganah plans to attack on strategic points of Jerusalem itself. Three Jews were killed when an Arab fired on a Jewish armoured car near Piston El Zion in the Tel Aviv area. The police state that Jews suffered casualties estimated at 100 killed and wounded when the three Arab villages beat off a by Jewish armoured cars ano'mfantry. The Arabs lost six dead. A large-scale Arab evacuation from Haifa is already under way. It is estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 frantic men, women and children, carrying their possessions on their backs, are jamming the port area. Army landing craft are ferrying them across the bay to Acre. The Jews are now entirely running the automatic telephone exchange. They are reported to be advancing towards the port area, which may affect the British evacuation plans.