Will Invite Jews To Land Quietly

Northern Advocate, 30 August 1947, Page 8

Will Invite Jews To Land Quietly

(Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON. August 29. WHEN the three ships carrying illegal Jewish immigrants arrive at Hamburg loud-speakers will be used to invite them to disembark peacefully, said General W. H. Bishop, deputy chief of staff, British Zone, at a Press conference at Herford today. “It is most sincerely hoped that the invitation will be accepted,” he said. If the Jews refused, the precise method of landing them would be left to the discretion of the Hamburg military command. Troops in carrying out this unpleasant task would not use lethal weapons unless the lives of British personnel were actually endangered. General Bishop said he considered such a situation highly improbable.

The Jews would be sent by rail to two camps at Poppendorf and Anstau, near Lubeck, where they would be “screened." This might take about a fortnight. Guards would then be removed. Transport would be provided for those accepting France's offer of refuge. The remainder would be screened by the International Refugee Organisation and classed either as refugees or displaced persons. Those who were classed as refugees would eventually be absorbed into German economy—directed to labour and treated as Germans. Those classed as displaced persons would be sent to camps such as Belsen. where they would be placed last on the list for official immigrations to Palestine. General Bishop added that representatives of the International Red Cross would be present at the disembarkation and at camps. General Bishop, replying to a question about Haganah organisers of the resistance alleged to be on board the ships, said passengers against whom legal charges could be preferred would be arrested immediately they arrived at Hamburg. Reuters correspondent aboard the Runnymede Park says three British Battle class destroyers joined the three refugee ships as they left Gibraltar today. The British command has worked out an emergency signal system for use if boarding parties or other assistance is required. The refugees persisted in believing a rumour that the United Nations would intervene in their favour, despite repeated statements from the crew that the ships were, in fact, bound for Hamburg, and there was no intention of turning back to Palestine.

ing upon the Foreign Secretary (Mr Ernest Bcvin) and the Colonial Secretary (Mr Creech-Jones) to produce six persons from the Jewish refugee ships. Mr Justice Jenkins, in dismissing the application, said he must attribute to the deportation order, which had been made under the Palestine Defence Emergency Regulations of 1945, the extraterritorial effect necessary to make the order effective.

Mr D. N. Pritt, K.C., said the essence of this test case was that Jews were illegally detained in vessels and that their detention was becoming more and more illegal. Detention of any person in British territory was prima facie unlawful, i These people, who had been told orally and by leaflet that they were going to Cyprus, were, without any legal justfiication, conveyed to France.

A deportation order in the vaguest terms was made by the High Commissioner and the immigrants transferred to three ships. “Here we get a piece of conduct on the part of somebody on behalf of the Government which is very regrettable,” he said. “If the immgirants could lawfully be taken to Germany they could be taken to Tristan dc Cunha, to a lion’s cage at a zoo, or could be detained in British ships for ever.” Mr Pritt added that the decision to take the immigrants to Hamburg was the “most gross political blunder” he had ever known. Mr Justice Jenkins, discussing Mr Pritt’s claim that announcements and leaflets had misled the immigrants, said he was satisfied that the distribution of leaflets was merely the result of a misunderstanding. Mr Pritt, by accusing the Government of bad faith, had made a wholly unwarrantable attack on the Government's bona tides.

The High Court today dismissed the Jewish Agency’s application for a writ of habeas corpus to prevent British ships from landing Jews in Hamburg.

It had become the practice to organise parties of Jews to be sent to enter Palestine if they could, in defiance of the immigration regulations.

The agency applied for a writ call-