SEARCHES IN PALESTINE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24911, 26 June 1946, Page 7

SEARCHES IN PALESTINE

Officers Held

As Hostages

trial begun of 31 JEWS

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ? LONDON, June 25. Lsritisn troops yesterday carried out ra ® c on all the roads thr? a e *.Ay IV to in the aeareh for the three British officers still hfeld as hostages by Jewish underground forces. Every vehicle -going to or from Tel Aviv was Stopped and the identity of its passengers checked. B-B.C. correspondent in the Middle East says it is reported that very’soon all British police will be withdrawn from Tel Aviv, and the city will then be policed entirely by

The secret radio of the Jewish organisation, Irgun Zvai Leumi, said there was no intention of releasing the remaining three British officers who were being held as hostages. The radio threatened that they would be ® x two Jews at present being similar o ”ate harBeS Of terrorism me * a

Thirty-one members of Irgun Zvai Leumi are on trial in Jerusalem, charged with carrying arms and explosives. Among the accused is a girl, Deborah Kalfus, aged 21, who sat smiling beside her brother Moshe, aged Before the trial began all the accused recited in Hebrew the first verse of Psalm 68: Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also tila t Nim flee before Him." The 30 men on trial, aged from 17 un i form of the Jewish National Military Organisation. bum guns, grenades, explosives, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were stacked in the Court. They were tne arm# alleged to have been carried by the accused when they were arrested after being spotted by an aeroplane.

The Court is heavily guarded and surrounded by barbed wire. Twelve of 15 men who were detained for questioning on Friday after the dis. opvery of hidden arms at the British Potash Company’s works in Palestine have been released. The other three are still held. The works manager, Mr awerdloff, has returned to the factory after his release on a £lOOO surety British destroyers are patrolling the coast of Palestine in search of a ship *? . be ° n !ts w «y there with 1000 illegal Jewish immigrants.