As the British prepared to terminate their mandate over Palestine in 1948, their biggest headache was how to get rid of 254 Jewish nationalists detained at the Jewish detention Camp at Gilgil Kenya.
Previously these Jews had been detained in a camp near Asmara Eritrea after being shipped in from Palestine where it was feared that they would be rescued by fellow Jews.
But owing to political and security considerations in Eritrea, especially after many escaped in August 1946, it was found necessary to move them to the interior part of Africa. For this reason Kenya, Gilgil to be specific was chosen as the ideal place for detention.
They were not convicted by the courts but selected for detention by the British who labelled them as "Terrorists", for fighting for what they believed was their land. They arrived at Gilgil in March 1947, where a makeshift detention camp was erected.
They numbered 291, when they arrived but by June 1948, the number had reduced to 254 after many escaped by digging tunnels under the camp.
At first the detainess were promised that they woud be returned to the Mandatory Palestine in June 1947 and arrangements made to send them by air, starting on 10th June.
However, this was suspended as His Majesty's Government was careful not to do anything that could compromise the success of the negotiations for a cease fire during the 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and also for fear of putting the lives of British troops at risk.
Tired of these promises, the detainees began to dig an 80m escape tunnel underneath the Gilgil Camp.
On March 29,1948, seven detainees led by Yaakov Meridor who later served as Israel Member of Parliament and also as Minister for Economic Planning in 1981, made a daring escape from Gilgil Camp. Many more followed.
They were met outside the camp by two Jews from South Africa who had brought them South African passports.
They crossed over to Uganda using the passports before proceeding to see the Belgian Ambassador who facilitated their journey to Israel via Belgium and Congo.
In mid 1948, the British government started considering seriously how to get rid of the detainees, after pressure from the Colonial Governor of Kenya.
First the British mandate over Palestine was coming to an end, and as the officials wrote,” ..If as a result of political objection we delay the return of the detainees to Palestine until the moment we lose our mandate over it,we risk being left with these thugs in our hands, The Arabs will not admit them and the Jews may quite possibly have their own Political reasons for refusing to accept some or all of them, and if as we hope the moderate elements of the Yeshur are in control of the new Jewish state, they might well refuse to have them. And we can't keep them in Kenya, they are a little more than thugs.”
Secondly the Medical Officer who visited the Gilgil camp to perform health checks on the Jewish detainees, had warned the Government that the detainees were moody and were likely to riot if they were not repatriated to Palestine. They had told the Medical Officer that they didn't care to live or die and would not attempt to make an escape but to create a situation for the guards to slaughter them.
Since the guards at the camp were black the British feared the repercussions, especially from the Americans and the Jews in diaspora, of a black Kenyan butchering a Jew.
Plans were therefore made to transport them back to Palestine. The initial proposal was that they be shipped to Palestine via the Suez Canal but there was a huddle ahead.
According to International Sanitary convention of 1936 any ship passing through the Suez Canal had to declare its presence and the people on board. So there were fears that declaring the presence of the Jewish detainees on board to the Egyptian authorities could leak information to the Arabs who would try to forcefully eject the detainees or shoot at the ship. So a different route had to be selected which involved airlifts.
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