Explosion Wrecks Jaffa Buildings

Northern Advocate, 5 January 1948, Page 3

Explosion Wrecks Jaffa Buildings

JERUSALEM, Sun. (10 a.m.) —It is officially announced that 14 were killed and 98 injured as the result of an explosion which wrecked the Arab Committee’s building in the centre of Jaffa today, reports Reuters. Arab sources earlier stated that 70 were killed.

Arabs said Jews halted two jeeps outside Barclay’s Bank. They drove off in one and left the other, which exploded, blasting the bank f>uilding, the Arab Committee Building, the Central Police Station and about 15 shops. Before the explosion an unknown person shot dead one Jew and wounded two others. Arabs killed a British soldier in Jerusalem. Reuters correspondent in Jerusalem reports that British troops, using tear gas, drove a wedge between Jewish defenders and Arab attackers who broke into the Old City’s Jewish quarter. The Arabs made four attacks. The British forced them to retire to deserted houses outside the quarter, from which they sporadically engaged Jewish gunmen. ESTIMATE OF CASUALTIES

A conservative count of the casualties is four dead and 12 wounded. The wounded include four British. Fifteen Jews were arrested. Fighting is reported from the Wailing Wall.

The Jews claim that the Arabs started the fighting yesterday by attacking a Jewish defence post.

The Arabs claim that the Jews started the battle by throwing grenades against Arab riflemen who, for two weeks, have controlled the Wailing Wall. According to the Associated Press, the entire area of the Old Walled City has been isolated, with Arabs in control of all the gates. The Jerusalem fire brigade has had to rufi the between riflemen to reach houses the Arabs set on fire. 1500 JEWS TRAPPED Earlier reports said a mob of Arabs had surrounded the Jewish quarter of the Old City for four days, trying to starve the 1500 Jews trapped in the area.

The Jews had been without bread for four days and other food was giving out. The Arabs outside the Jewish quarter were checking even British traffic to hold up food supplies. The Mayor §f the Jewish quarter appealed to the Jewish Agency for food convoys to run the blockade. A message from Famagusta, Cyprus, says a new law published in the Official Gazette empowers the Governor of Cyprus to detain all illegal immigrant ships brought to the island. The illegal immigrant ships, Pan York and Pan Crescent, intercepted by the Royal Navy, while on the way to Palestine from the Black Sea. were taken to Cyprus last Thursday.