ZIONISTS BLAMED FOR TRUCE BREACHES: ARABS’ ULTIMATUM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22663, 14 June 1948, Page 5

ZIONISTS BLAMED FOR TRUCE BREACHES: ARABS’ ULTIMATUM

(N.Z.P. A.—Reuter—Oopyricht.) (10.40 a.m.) LONDON, June 13. It is reliably learned that Count Bernadotte, the United Nations’ mediator, sent a “very favourable” report on the Palestine truce to the Security Council, says Reuter’s correspondent in Damascus. It is believed that the report blames the Jews for the truce breaches.

Count Bernadotte, before leaving Damascus for Tel Aviv, on his way to Rhodes, said there would definitely bo no round-table conference at Rhodes. Count Bernadotte is going to Cairo on Tuesday for a conference with the Arab leaders.

“We can expect more minor truce violations in Palestine,” said Count Bernadette. "I was correctly informed when the United Nations' truce observers were arriving in Palestine and the truce date was fixed before 1 discovered that the observers were arriving much later."

Agency correspondents in Palestine report that United Nations' observers, who have arrived in Palestine, are already investigating Jewish and Arab complaints of attacks by opponents as spasmodic clashes continued. Violation Charges Repeated

A Jewish communique repeated allegations that the Arabs violated the truce and added that the United Nations' truce observers had been informed on the infringements but thus far the observers had visited only cne of the areas concerned. A Washington message says the United States has agreed to supply Count Bernadotte with three patrol vessels, three transport planes and will send more observers if required Count Bernadotte, with a large entourage of advisers, flew to Jerusalem for a first-hand inspection. He visited the Jewish Agency, consulted the United Nations Truce Commission, conferred with the Arab Legion officers in the old city and then flew to Damascus en route to Rhodes.

The Arabs delivered an ultimatum to Count Bernadotte threatening “a general attack on all fronts” if the Jews do not strictly observe the cease fire by 11 a.m. on Sunday

Jews and A.rabs are counter-claiming that the other consistently violated the cease-fire agreement throughout the first day of uneasy truce. The Jewish operations chief said it was “just another day of fighting on most fronts, with the Arabs keeping up the attacks.”

Meanwhile, Arab representatives persist in their allegations of Jewish violations in the Syrian sector of the Palestine front. The chiefs of staff of all the Arab armies have been summoned to a conference with Arab Prime Ministers in Cairo on Monday. Jerusalem Shops Reopen

The shops in Jerusalem reopened after the cease-fire and people thronged the streets for the first time in 28 days. Jews walked openly in sight of the old walled city from which the Arabs maintained withering fire following the British evacuation. A Jewish communique said that the Jewish settlement of Ein Geb, on the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias, is still under heavy Arab attacks. King Abdullah announced in Amman that if the Palestine Arabs and Jews formed a single nation, Transjordan people would not object to joining it. He added that if the Jews agreed to belong to one Arab nation in Palestine they would be allowed full citizenship and even self-government “in their own places.” Ah official Syrian statement claimed that the Jews attacked Malkieh on the Lebanon front last night. The Jews on another part of the front killed a Syrian soldier. An airraid alarm sounded in Damascus last night for what an Arab source claimed to be a Jewish air raid. The United Nations truce observers took up their assigned positions in Palestine a few minutes after the cease-fire. The remainder will take their posts within a day or two A delegation of 20 Belgian Army officers has left Brussels by air lor Cairo to join the corps of observers to supervise the truce. Reuter says the British ships and planes asked for bv Count Bernadotte are to be used to carry observers from three nations to Palestine. An Israeli communique issued at Tel Aviv giving detail of the operations before the cease-fire reported that the Israeli air force dropped over three tons of bombs Op Damascus. The Prime Minister of Transjordan said the Arab countries decided to accept Count Bernadotte’s truce proposals after receiving “a personal request” from Mr. Ernest Bevin. He denied that there was any British pressure and assessed Mr. Bevin’s request as “a sincere effort to help the United Nations in achieving peace in Palestine”. Jewish Extremists’ Threat , Apart from the allegations of violations, the truce is threatened by the extremist groups, Irgun Zvai Leumi and Stern Gang, which have declared their bitter dissatisfaction with the l£ UCe - P roviEl °ns. They have reserved the right to act "where necessary” and have called Count Bernadotte “ an emissary of the British” and regard t»‘e truce observers as "enemies of Israel". .They S av they will go on fighting for the natural" frontiers of Israel which include Transjordan and both groups are_ pledged to continuing the war against Britain. Thev are likely to be a considerable embarrassment to the State of Israel.

The British United Press correspondent m Helsinki says the Finnish Cabinet decided to recognise the State of Israel.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League. Azzam Pasha, and Arab representatives m Cairo saw Count Bernadotte and threatened to ignore the truce in. Palestine because of the reported violations by the Jewish forces. Reuter s correspondent in Paris says the French News Agency reported that 8 i n i°? n ? tlle Panamanian flag was at Port du Roc., near Marseilles, ready to sail with Jewish volunteers and arms to Palestine in contravention of the truce.

I* l a leader headed: “Hair-Trigger iruce, the Times says success at the conference on Palestine in Rhodes will j? T e onl y if Britain and the United States can compose the last of their differences and recommend an agreed and clear-cut plan for both sides. If the Arabs and Jews are left mainly to themselves during the conference, then nothing is more likely than failure. U.S. COMMANDER KILLED IN ACTION _ NEW YORK, June 11. Colonel Daid Marcus, aged 47 years, a Brooklyn-born soldier and lawyer, who was recently appointed supreme commander of the Israeli forces on the Jerusalem front, was killed last night while leading an operation to get food through to the Holy City’s Jewish residents. This was announced by Israeli Government representatives ‘in New York today. It was the first official disclosure that an American was in command of the Israeli forces. A relative said today that Colonel Marcus went to Palestine about two months ago “as an unofficial War Department observer lo check on the strengths of the Jewish and Arab forces, ’