On 1 February, the immigration-port target passed without the early transfer recommended by the UN. The English Empire intercepted a ship carrying 280 יהודים YEHUDIM and sent its passengers toward detention in Cyprus. After dark, a vehicle bomb devastated the offices of The Palestine Post and JTA in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM. Other fighting that day also took Arab lives and damaged homes.

Why did the immigration target pass unmet?

The Mandatory government had already refused to relinquish undivided control before the Mandate ended. It retained its immigration quota and its policy of stopping unauthorized landings. The study at The English Empire refused to open an immigration port by the UN target date. examines the refusal and the distinction between a UN recommendation and a binding treaty obligation.1

The passengers aboard the Thirty-Five encountered that continuing policy. JTA reported their early-morning interception, transfer in חיפה HAIFA and departure aboard a deportation ferry. The full account at The English Empire intercepted 280 יהודים YEHUDIM aboard the Thirty-Five. preserves the reported breakdown of 179 men, eighty-nine women and twelve children without inventing individual wartime biographies.2

What happened at the newspaper offices?

The late-night bombing damaged the newspaper and news agency offices and surrounding apartments. Early reports gave one death and about twenty injuries; later totals differ. The merged study at Bombing of The Palestine Post offices. examines the losses, competing attribution claims and emergency continuation of publication.3

The reported hour, approximately 23:00, places the attack on 22 שבט ŜEVAT even though its civil date is 1 February. This daily article's daytime route does not override that boundary.4

What violence affected Arab residents?

JTA reported that ההגנה HAʾHAGANA killed eight Arabs in a raid on بيت صفافا BEIT SAFAFA, following an attack on the suburb called Mekor Hayim in the report in which at least one person among יהודים YEHUDIM was killed and a home destroyed. The reported retaliatory purpose does not establish that every Arab killed participated in the earlier attack. A house at بيت صفافا BEIT SAFAFA was reportedly destroyed.5

The report also described two Arabs killed when attackers identified as יהודים YEHUDIM fired on a bus near Tarshiha, and one Arab killed in a raid by ההגנה HAʾHAGANA on Kabri. Its relative wording places the Kabri raid the preceding night; that may mean 31 January after sunset, within the same Hebrew day as this daytime slot. These are separate incidents and source-specific counts, not verified combatant losses to combine with the bombing.6

How is this dated?

This is Day 64 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1948-02-01. Its public Ivrit route is 5708-11-21; after local sunset the adjacent Hebrew route is 5708-11-22.7

The port target is explicitly 1 February; the refusal preceded it. The ship interception is reconstructed as Sunday, 1 February, from the 2 February bulletin. The bombing's late-night hour places it on 22 שבט ŜEVAT. The local raids and bus attack follow the bulletin's relative wording, with the Kabri operation assigned only to the preceding night pending original dispatch and operation records.8 9 10

Guided reflections

  • How did immigration restrictions and the newspaper bombing affect different forms of communal life?
  • Why must the victims of the raids, bus attack and bombing remain separate?

Footnotes

  1. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-187994/ A/AC.21/7, sections 6 and 11, dated 29 January. ↩
  2. https://www.jta.org/archive/280-visaless-jews-intercepted-off-palestine-in-route-to-cyprus-blasts-in-jerusalem 2 February report of the Sunday interception. ↩
  3. https://www.jta.org/archive/jewish-agency-starts-inquiry-into-bombing-of-offices-of-j-t-a-and-palestine-post 3 February issue, account of the bombing and its aftermath. ↩
  4. https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/this-week-in-jewish-history--palestine-post-building-bombed-by-palestinian-terrorists Later account explicitly placing the explosion late on 1 February. ↩
  5. https://www.jta.org/archive/280-visaless-jews-intercepted-off-palestine-in-route-to-cyprus-blasts-in-jerusalem Separate Jerusalem-area operations in the same dispatch. ↩
  6. https://www.jta.org/archive/280-visaless-jews-intercepted-off-palestine-in-route-to-cyprus-blasts-in-jerusalem Bus attack and preceding-night raid; exact operational records uninspected. ↩
  7. https://www.hebcal.com/converter?cfg=json&gy=1948&gm=2&gd=1&g2h=1 Hebcal, Gregorian-to-Hebrew daytime conversion for 1948-02-01, checked 10 October 2026. An evening occurrence requires the sunset adjustment explained here. ↩
  8. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-187994/ Target date. ↩
  9. https://www.jta.org/archive/280-visaless-jews-intercepted-off-palestine-in-route-to-cyprus-blasts-in-jerusalem Relative incident dates. ↩
  10. https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/this-week-in-jewish-history--palestine-post-building-bombed-by-palestinian-terrorists Bombing hour. ↩