340.1115A/700: Telegram
The Consul General at Jerusalem (Wadsworth) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 25—5:05 p.m.]
36. As the Department’s telegram of May 24, 7 p.m., may have been sent without reference to my telegram No. 33 of May 23, 9 p.m., I desire to report that the Reuters’ message and my supplementary comment, both quoted in my telegram under reference, were published prominently yesterday in all morning newspapers, namely the four Hebrew and three Arabic dailies and in the English language Palestine Post. The Department may rest assured that through such publication its warning to American citizens has become generally known throughout Palestine.
My telegram No. 33 reported that only two vessels are currently available for travel from Palestine. It now appears that departure by the former is not to be recommended because reliable reports received today have it that all Italian line sailings from Italy to New York have been canceled and that United States Line sailings are [Page 882] fully booked. This constitutes, I believe, a strong added reason for my taking no further steps at this time to invite American citizens here to return to the United States while, in the words of the Department’s telegram, “There still remains opportunity for them to do so”, such opportunity appears to exist in fact for at most a few hundreds of our more than 8,000 citizens in Palestine. I am therefore hesitant to add, by press release or other form of additional notification, further fuel to the smoldering fire of panic now reliably reported to be spreading in the Palestine Jewish community.