TENSION IN PALESTINE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24906, 20 June 1946, Page 5

TENSION IN PALESTINE

Strict Curfew Day And Night BRITISH OFFICERS KIDNAPPED (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) JERUSALEM, June 18. Tension mounted throughout Palestine after the week-end incidents. A strict day and night curfew has been declared in Tel Aviv and Haifa, from 5 a.m. to-morrow, under which no person is allowed outside his own doors. It is not stated when the curfew will be lifted. There was a silent demonstration of 30,000 Jews, headed by Jewish leaders, at the graves near Haifa of 10 young Jews killed in last night’s attacks in that area. Widespread police and military searches continue for suspects, illegal arms, and secret printing presses and radio transmitters. A party of armed Jews surrounded the Officers’ Club in Tel Aviv and kidnapped five British officers, of whom four belonged to the Army and one to the Royal Air Force. The raid was carried out by 12 Jews, who entered the Yarkon Hotel, held up the officers with tommy-guns, blindfolded them, and drove them away in a taxi. Armoured cars and troops of the 6th Airborne Division are carrying out a widespread search for the kidnappers. It is stated that the kidnapped officers are being held as hostages, and will be killed if Major-General Barker confirms the death sentences passed last week on two Jewish, terrorists for their part in the raid on the Saraland Garrison. British Officers Wounded

Two British majors were seriously wounded while standing in one of Jerusalem’s busiest streets. The shots were fired from a passing taxi. The two majors were shot by a Jew armed with a tommy-gun who stepped from a taxi near them. One officer grappled with the Jew, but fell after a burst from the tommy-gun. The Jew escaped in the taxi. An official communique describing the kidnapping of the five said that all the officers present in the club were held up by a party of armed Jews, who selected their victims and carried them away at the point of a gun in a taxi. Two officers were struck with a piece of iron piping while attempting to resist. The taxi was found abandoned nearby. The .kidnappers are believed to have escaped in another car.

The entire Jewish population of Jerusalem and the surrounding areastook the afternoon off to attend the funeral of the two Jewish “heroes” who lost their lives during the attack on the Allenby bridge. Thousands of Jews lined the main Jerusalem-Jaffa roadJewish boys wearing khaki uniforms and black berets kept the crowds off the route while British soldiers stood by looking on. All shops were closed and the Windows were shuttered along the route. Columns of youths paraded up and down the route before the arrival of the funeral procession. The British police meanwhile are keeping the Arabs in the background until the Jewish excitement subsides.

The “Voice of Israel” radio, addressing the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East (General Sir Bernard Paget), declared that no retaliatory or punitive measures would halt the Jewish resistance activities. The broadcaster added that the object of the sabotage of road and railway bridges was to hamper military communications vital to British strategy. Arab Charge Against U.S,

The Arab League, has accused many Americans of supporting the Jewish terrorists with arms and money, according to the Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press. The League’s view is expressed in a memorandum presented to the American Minister in Syria by the Secre-tary-General of the League (Azzam Pasha) and published in Cairo. The League advised the United States that such action would be considered unfriendly and might result in the Palestine Arabs being obliged to arm themselves. The Arab States feared that the disturbances in Palestine might spread- to neighbouring countries and the Arab Governments might be forced to arm the Palestine Arabs.