The Idaho Statesman · Boise, Idaho · 23 April 1948

CP-1948-024

60,000 Arabs Forced Out of Haifa As Jews Win Military Control

Agreement On Yielding Arms Made

The Associated Press, Haifa

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Transcribed from the clipping

“HAIFA (Friday) (INS)—Jewish forces won complete military control of Haifa Thursday night and today 60,000 Arabs began a mass evacuation from the great port city on Palestine’s northwest coast.

(The London Daily Mail said the Arab decision amounted to a ‘surrender by evacuation.’) The Arabs were reported to have agreed to yield their arms to the Jews before leaving Haifa—the richest plum in the current Arab-Jewish war.

Attacks Renewed. (A Reuters dispatch said a breakdown of truce negotiations brought renewal of Jewish attacks on Haifa’s Arabs which had been suspended Thursday after an all-out offensive began Wednesday.) (The Reuters dispatch added that Arab troops were on the march to aid the Haifa Arabs).

A Syrian commander in Haifa left the city ‘to obtain reinforcements’ but was forced to return at 6 p. m. (Haifa time) Thursday night. Haifa has been virtually encircled by victorious Jews who seized control of most of the strategic points in the big port, rail and oil hub. Arab resistance died down upon his return and the mass Arab evacuation swung into full gear.

Terms Refused. An Arab spokesman declared: ‘We will not accept the Jewish truce terms. We would rather leave Haifa.’ The truce talks were scheduled to be resumed Friday morning. One report said a number of Arab troops who had participated in the battle for Haifa had surrendered.

While Jews throughout Palestine were jubilant over the Haifa vic…” (Please turn to Page 3, Col. 5.)

Context added by this archive

One International News Service dispatch out of Haifa ran in at least four American papers on 23 April 1948. This is the only one of the four whose headline says the 60,000 were forced out.

The Patriot-News (CP-1948-026) says Jewish forces are in control; the Sidney Daily News (CP-1948-021) says they are leaving in a mass exodus; the M’Alester News-Capital (CP-1948-025) says Jewish troops attack. Boise is also the only one that prints the sentence the spokesman actually said: “We will not accept the Jewish truce terms.

We would rather leave Haifa.” Everything above the fold on this page is the Boeing strike in Seattle.

Cite this clipping

More from The Idaho Statesman

• 60,000 Arabs Set To Evacuate CityThe Idaho Statesman · 23 April 1948
• Israeli Troops Attack Egyptian Military PostThe Idaho Statesman · 1 September 1955
• U.S., PLO talks improve chance for Palestinian stateThe Idaho Statesman · 18 December 1988
• For peace, look to the seaThe Idaho Statesman · 14 August 2014

More from the 1940s

• Jewish Reprisal Raids On Two Arab Villages Take Toll of 8 LivesThe News Journal · 1 January 1948
• Palestine Blasts Rip Arab OfficesThe New York Times · 5 January 1948
• Jews Blow Up Military Post Of Jaffa ArabsMorning Advocate · 5 January 1948
• Ninety Wounded In Truck Blast At HeadquartersThe Beaumont Enterprise · 5 January 1948
• Jews Dynamite HQ of Arabs’ High CommandDaily News · 5 January 1948
• 15 Arabs Die In Jaffa BlastTerre Haute Tribune · 5 January 1948
• All 334 clippings from the 1940s →

In these collections

The same copy, in 2 other papers

• Jewish Forces Win Control of Haifa; Arabs LeavingLubbock Avalanche-JournalLubbock, Texas23 April 1948CP-1948-019
• Arabs Forced To Evacuate HaifaThe State Journal-RegisterSpringfield, Illinois23 April 1948CP-1948-027

Their text and this one are nearly identical. Found by comparing transcriptions, not by reading them side by side, so this establishes that the text overlaps and not that these papers ran the same dispatch. How this was done.