Jews Expected To Take Over Jaffa When British Pull Out

By Daniel De Luce, Jaffa, Palestine

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“Jaffa, Palestine, May 8 (AP)—Jaffa, the largest Arab city in Palestine a few days ago, now is a forsaken hostage of the Jewish state… Sandbagged Arab gunposts are deserted. Less than 100 Arab civilians are to be seen dazedly wandering in the streets.

They are the hungry, impoverished remnants of a population which numbered 90,000 until two weeks ago… ‘The Jews will take over here in five minutes when we pull out,’ said a junior officer of the Fusiliers. ‘They will find goods worth a king’s ransom.

Most of it was consigned to Jewish merchants in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem but never got delivered because of the Arab boycott.’… Jaffa’s remaining inhabitants, who now scarcely exceed 2,000, are on the verge of starvation… Under the United Nations partition plan of last November Jaffa was to be an Arab enclave in the Jewish state.

Virtually deserted at present it is likely to become a vital pawn for Jewish diplomats in future peace negotiations with the Arab powers… Rumors that the Trans-Jordan Arab Legion would seize the field for an Egyptian air base appear to be fantastic… In the fields Arab peasants are threshing grain, tilling orchards and dozing beside flocks.

Perhaps 150,000 Arab townsmen now are refugees, but the peasants cling to their land regardless of their fear of Jewish arms.”

Context added by this archive

The subheadings here are “Arab Exodus Near End,” “On Verge Of Starvation,” “Typifies Arab Disunity,” “Jews Biding Time,” “Lydda Airport Deserted” and “Peasants Cling To Land.” The headline turns the dispatch into a question of what the Jews will do next.

Cite this clipping

"Jews Expected To Take Over Jaffa When British Pull Out," The Baltimore Sun, 9 May 1948, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1948-107. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1948-107