Tel-Aviv and Jewish Settlements ) Bombed by Egyptians

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26773, 17 May 1948, Page 5

Tel-Aviv and Jewish Settlements ) Bombed by Egyptians

Egyptian aircraft to-day bombed TelAviv .and a number of Jewish settle-, ments in Palestine. Six Spitfires divebombed the port of Tel-Aviv at dawn. An unconfirmed report says one person was killed and six injured. An Egyptian Defence Ministry communique said the Egyptian planes dropped warning leaflets on the settlements before the bombing. Fighters and bombers successfully bombed the TelAviv military airfield, destroying a hangar and one Dakota. Airport workers said Jewish fighter aircraft drove off the attackers. Haganah reported that at least one enemy fighter was shot down and the Egyptian pilot taken prisoner- Agency reports from Tel-Aviv state that Arab aircraft again appeared north of the city within two hours of the first raid, but were driven off. A third raid on TelAviv came in the afternoon when Egyptian planes attacked the airfield. The Jews replied with heavy antiaircraft fire. A fourth raid on TelAviv was made later in the afternoon. An Egyptian, communique announced that Egyptian aircraft bombed the Jewish settlements of Beit Hanoun and Beirun Ishaq, each three miles from Gaza. Haganah reported that Spitfires attacked Jewish settlements in the Samakh area of the Jordan Valley and also the airfield at Akir, near Eehoboth. A Transjordan Government communique reported that King Abdullah’s forces have crossed the Jordan and are advancing westward. Haganah •adio claimed that Jewish forces occu-

pied all the Arab port and city of Acre. They opened all roads to the west Galilean settlements, occupied several Arab villages, and are now virtually in control of all west Galilee. Jewish forces occupied the Arab village of Malakir on the Lebanese border. Haganah admitted that the Arabs captured five small settlements and “ hundreds of our soldiers.” Haganah claimed that Arabs massacred the entire male and female population of Kfar Etzion, a village south "of Jerusalem. ‘The Egyptian Defence Ministry announced that Egyptian forces wiped out the Jewish settlement of Dan] our, south-east of Gaza, because it refused to surrender. An Arab Liberation Army communique claimed to have inflicted heavy losses, on Jews who attacked the villages of Kamilia, Keer Saba, and Et Tire, in the Tulkarem sector. Reuter’s Bagdad correspondent says that volunteers are arriving in Bagdad in large numbers to train for military service in Palestine. Many walked 1250 miles barefooted from Yemen. It is reported from Tel-Aviv that 700 Jewish immigrants, mostly young men, arrived at Haifa on a ship flying the Panamanian flag. A second immigrant ship disembarked 491 Jews who sailed from an Italian port six days ago. Haganah occupied all points in Jerusalem which the British evacuated. The Three-consul Commission is continuing negotiations for a Holy City truce.

The Cairo weekly newspaper, Akhbar Elytan, says the police took into custody 600 persons, mostly Zionists, and put them in concentration camps. Haganah reported that the Arab Legion shelled the colonies of Gesher Ashdoth, Yaacov, and Shaar Hagolan, south of the Sea of Galilee. An agency report from Tel-Aviv states that an Arab convoy with 150 armoured cars carrying Syrian and Lebanese troops crossed the northern Palestine frontier last night. Jewish forces engaged the Arabs. Other messages report that an Egyptian ship tried to land troops near Gaza, but made off when Haganah forces appeared. The Egyptian Defence Ministry announced that two groups of Egyptian light forces, including infantry and artillery, entered Palestine this morning.

The Cairo correspondent of The Times says the Arab Governments approved that King Abdullah should be supreme commander of the Arab forces. The King will be advised by a war council on which the staffs of all the Arab armies will be represented. The Arab Governments have also agreed that the Syrian and Lebanese armies should operate under the unified command on the northern front, the Iraqi and Transjordan armies on the eastern front, and the Egyptian. Saudi Arabian and Yeminite armies on the southern front. The air command has also been unified, but the commander-in-chief's name has not been revealed.