Evening star., 1948-03-11
BY thesAssocioted Press

Y. N. veto powers. Page AS.
By thesAssocioted Press
JERUSALEM, Mar. 1l.-An ex-
plosion severely damaged the
Jewish Agency building today
soon after car flying the Amer
lean flag was parked in its
heavily guarded courtyard.
The Jewish Agency, the official
organization for Palestine Jewry.
said II persons were killed and SO
injured. Up to 500 persons were in
the building and so or go were in
the right wing, which was the worst
shattered.
Hagana, the Jewish militia. took
charge It's preliminary inquiry in
dicated the explosive had been under
the cars floor. The government said
the Jews were barring all police from
the scene.
Coloniza tion Official Killed.
A Hagana informant said wreck
age of the automobile indicated it
was that of Robert B, MacAtee,
United States consul general, which
was stolen yesterday.
Leib Jaffe, chairman of Keren
Hayessod, the Jewish National
Colonization Fund. was reported to
have been one of those killed. He
was a widely known Zionist leader
of Russian birth.
Three minor officials of the agency
were reported injured slightly.
1T is not yet known how the
blast occurred" spokesman for the
Jewish Agency told noon news
conference. I'VE are told that
car bearing the American flag ana
number plates of the United States
consulate drove into the courtyard
just before the blast. =
The driver was said by guards
to be we'll known to them as one OF
the consulate drivers. Orders had
been given that personnel and prop
erty of foreign consulates must be
respected. For that reason. the car
was allowed in without the usual
further check
Foreign Newsmen Detained.
4 The spokesman said only the
driver was known to have been IN
; the car. A second man had been
reported previously to have accom-
panied him.
The first dozen or more foreign
correspondents and two photogra-
pliers who reached the scene were
shut in one of the undamaged rooms
for almost an hour Guards said
the reason was that photographs
were not to be taken showing men
with arms. Armed men were every
where.
One wall was blown out In the
second story of wing which housed
the Jewish National Council tVaad
LeumD and the Karen Hayessod Of
fees. The blast destroyed Vaad
! Leumi files on social and educational
/ services.
| The block of buildings was de-
signed in the late l920s by Prof.
Eugen Rather, Odessa born Jewish
architect.
Son Among Injured.
! Most of the damage was in the
Jewish Agency wing. The wing
housing the Keren Kayemeth Jew,
ish National Land FUND.- at the
other end of the semicircular COM
pound suffered less. This wing also
contained the Theodore Herzl room,
where a number of mementoes re-
call the life of the late founder of
the Zionist world organization.
Leib Jaffe had been connected
with the Zionist movement since
his early youth. He was born in 1875
in Grodno, Russia. Mr.. Jaffe, au-
thor of Hebrew poems, came to
Palestine IN 1919. He was editor
of Tel Avivs first daily, HaaretZ.
Since 1927 he has been director of
Keren Hayessod His son Benjamin
was among the injured today.
Most of the agency's officials, in
cluding Chairman David Ben
Gurion, were in Tel Aviv at the
time. The chairmans room was
among those wrecked The political
department rooms were damaged
severely.
Among those injured slightly were
Gershon Hirsch, spokesman for the
executive: Reuben Saslini of the
Jewish Agency political department.
and Walter Eytan, liaison officer of
the agency with the United Nations
Partition Commissions advance
: party here.
The explosion, at 9:45 am. local
time, sounded almost as heavy as
the disastrous Ben Yehuda street
blast on February %, when more
: than so persons were killed in the
Jewish district.
Near Ben Yehuda Street.
The agency building, which houses
all important Jewish governmental
council Offices. is orlM a few blocks
east of Ben Yehuda street.
The Jewish Agency is official ad-
wiser to the British government of
Palestine on behalf of the Holy
Lands Jews The League of Ma
tions mandate to the British, effec-
tive in 1923, provided for such an
advisory body. The British recog-
nized the agency in its present form
in 1890.
/ The agency's executive, with
headquarters in the bombed build
ing, has nearly score of members.