Arabs Reject U.N.’s Truce Plea, Demand Capitulation of Israel, NY Herald Tribune, May 27, 1948.

U.S. May Revive Sanctions Plan

Arabs Report 800 Killed in Battle to Get Convoy Through

Clash at Key Road Junction at Latrun Is Biggest of Palestine War; 1,500 of Haganah Forces Fail to Open Up Road to Jerusalem

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By The United Press

WITH ARAB LEGION IN THE FIELD NEAR LATRUN, Palestine, May 26.-Arab legionnaires said tonight they had killed 800 Jews of an attacking force estimated at 1.500 at this key road junction. It was the biggest single clash of the Palestine war to date.

The Arabs said the Jews were repulsed in a desperate attempt to got a supply convoy past Latrun and Bab el Wad to Jerusalem, fifteen miles to the east. Jewish prisoners told interrogation officers they were ordered to get the convoy through at any cost.

The Jews seem still determined to ram through the remainder of their shattered convoy, which has now withdrawn into the hills. A Legion spokesman said the Jews were trying to re-form with reinforcements for another lunge to ward Jerusalem.

Legion guns have spent the day pounding Jewish concentrations. Fighting started at 2-30 a. m. and continued savagely until noon.

The fighting centered on the monastery of the Trappist Monks, located on a near-by hill Legion officers said Jewish mortars hit the monastery.

Jews were said to have come on foot through the hills to attack Latrun while their truck convoy “foolishly tried to break through to Bab el Wad.”

“We shelled the convoy as it passed through a heavily mined area,” an officer said. “At the same time our infantrymen waded into the attackers.”

The Jewish base for the attack is Hulda to the west, and it is near there that they are trying to re-form for another try. The Jewish units apparently converged on Hulda from different parts of the Jewish-held coast for an all-out attempt at a breakthrough.

Jewish losses of about 800 killed, as reported by the Arabs, would be the highest of the war. Arab losses were described as slight.

Prisoners, who include girl members of Haganah, the Jewish army, indicated that the Jews did not realize the Legionnaires were at Latrun in strength. They said the Jewish forces hoped an attack on Latrun would draw all Arab troops from the Jerusalem highway and allow the convoy to get through.

Arabs Gain in Old City

INSIDE THE OLD CITY IN JERUSALEM, May, 26 (AP).-The Arab Legion battled its way tonight through the receding perimeter around the last Jewish-held corner of Jerusalem’s Old City, Arab leaders said.

Legion sappers blasted closer and closer to the big Hurva Synagogue, last Haganah stronghold in the Old City. The Jews held an area approximately 200 yards square of rubble-strewn ground in the Holy Hills, and Arab officers said their surrender would come momentarily.

The Arab commander in the Old City said an attempt was made this morning to parachute ammunition to the Jews, but it failed and Arabs seized three cases which dropped near the perimeter.

Two Jewish attacks from outside the walls early today also failed. Arab leaders said, and the Jews withdrew, leaving at least thirty-five dead. One attack was made from outside Zion Gate; the other was launched from the Mea Shcarim quarter and carried into the Sheik Jarrah quarter before it was broken up.

[Jewish troops extended their defense perimeter in the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, driving Egyptian troops out of Ramat Rahel, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and from Mar Ellas across the road, The United Press reported.]

Jerusalem Reported Bombed

CAIRO. May 26 (AP).-The British-controlled Near East radio reported tonight that modern Jewish-held buildings in modern Jerusalem had been bombed by Arab planes for the first time.

The broadcast said the biggest Egyptian bombers yet, with fighter escort, bombed Tel Aviv.

A spokesman for Haganah at Jerusalem denied that the Holy City had been bombed from the air yesterday, as reported by a Haganah source in Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem spokesman said the explosions taken for aerial bombs were only routine ground bombardment from Arab lines.

A Cairo newspaper said 1,500 Jewish prisoners had been taken by the Egyptian Army when it seized Deir Suneid, twenty-three miles southwest of Tel Aviv. The Egyptians announced capture of the settlement Monday.

Two Jewish Air Force planes attempting to supply a Jewish settlement named Deir Haym (presumably in the southern coastal plain) were forced down and their crews captured by Egyptian troops, an Egyptian Defense Ministry communique said.

Israel Orders cease-fire

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 26 (UP).-The Israel government said tonight it had decided to order its troops to cease fire on all fronts at 9 p. m. (1 p. m. E. D. T.) provided the Arabs ceased fire at the same time.

This was the deadline for the extended United Nations cease-fire demand, which the Arabs had already said they would reject. Hence, it was assumed that the Jewish troops, after stopping their fire, would resume.