British Troops to Guard Evacuation of Haifa

Otago Daily Times, 26 April 1948, Page 5

British Troops to Guard Evacuation of Haifa

Rec. 10 p.m. JERUSALEM Apl. 24. British troops will guard the evacuation of 15,000 Arabs from Haifa tomorrow. Jewish forces attacking on the outskirts of Haifa have withdrawn from the village of Balad Ash Sheik to 'allow the British troops to evacuate Arab women and children. Arabs have abandoned scores of homes in their mass flight of the past 24 hours, and Haganah men completely control Arab quarters from which hundreds of Arabs are still leaving for Acre in small boats with few belongings. An Arab spokesman claimed that the evacuation was not prompted by cowardice, but because the lives of women and children were involved. Haifa, he said, would be recaptured later. Jewish leaders however, are trying to get the Arabs to halt the evacuation of Haifa so that they can hold up the city as an example of Jewish-Arab co-operation,, but the Arabs feel that to live under the Jews “ would be subjecting ourselves to conquerors.” The British United Press Beirut correspondent says that thousands of Arab women and children refugees from Haifa reached Sidon in a “ Dunkirk ” fleet of 20 schooners and many small sailing vessels. Three women gave birth at sea. The President of Lebanon 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. The Palestine High Commissioner. Sir Alan Cunningham, sent a cablegram to Mr Creech Jones at Lake Success, blaming the Arabs for the Haifa fighting yesterday, which “ was a direct consequence of continuous Arab attacks on 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 in Haifa did everything possible to stop the fighting by negotiation. Anxiety in Transjordan From Aman, King Abdullah of Transjordan telegraphed Sir Alan Cunningham, expressing anxiety about the situation in Palestine, and saying that Transjordan might soon have to intervene. Jews are attacking three Arab hill villages east of Jerusalem and north of the Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv road, and rumours are current that Haganah' plans an attack on strategic points in Jerusalem itself. Three Jews were killed when an Arab fired on a Jewish armoured car near Pishon El Zion, in the Tel-Aviv area. The police state that the Jews suffered casualties estimated at 100 killed and wounded when the Arabs beat off the heavy attack. The Arabs lost sjx dead.