PALESTINE PROBLEM

Grey River Argus, 29 November 1946, Page 3

PALESTINE PROBLEM

Administration in its Defence JERUSALEM, November 27. The High Court adjourned, its final decision on the Habeas Corpus case on the removal of about 3000 Jewish refugees from Palestine. Officials stated the adjournment meant that the order nisi stood, and even if the Jews were deported to Cyprus they would have to remain available in case the Court desired their return to Jerusalem. Hundreds of Jews were unable to gain admittance to the heavilyguarded, crowded courtroom when the legal battle to decide the fate of the latest batch of illegal Jewish immigrants opened before the Chief Justice, Sir William Fitzgerald. In evidence, Chief Secretary Gurney said the immigrants were transshipped to three sea transports in Haifa harbour because of the appalling conditions of the Lokhita. The transhipment was also based on the assumption that the passengers were illegal immigrants. Mr P. A. Devlin, K.C., has been instructed by a London firm of solicitors to appear- before the Privy Council on behalf of 300 Jews sent from Palestine and interned in Eritrea. The question at issue is whether the General Officer Commanding in Palestine had power to detain those Jews outside Palestine.

Rabbi Philip Bernstein, of New York, who is a special adviser to General McNarney, the United States commander in Germany, called on the United States to admit 100,000 European Jewish displaced persons. He suggested that America should employ its unused immigration quotas from 1942 to 1945 inclusive for European Jewish displaced persons seeking refuge in America. The rabbi said: “This is the time for a decision on Palestine. The United States Government must now take a firm position, implemented by deeds and supported by its own readiness to admit a reasonable number of refugees”. The Arab Association has sent a cablegram to the Arab League Council and the Palestine Arab Higher Committee now meeting in Cairo, urging their intervention if the High Court issues writs of habeas corpus enabling the Lokhita immigrants to enter instead of being deported. A military spokesman at Haifa estimated that the fatalities on the quayside yesterday were two Jews. One was shot when troops fired overhead, and the other was fatally injured in jumping from a ship to a tug. A soldier was knocked into the water by a tin of meat, but he regained the shore.