BRITISH TROOPS IN ACTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 752, 27 August 1929, Page 1

BRITISH TROOPS IN ACTION

Arabs Engaged at Jaffa fighting in the holy land Heroism of British Official (United T*.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and. N.Z. Brens Association) (United Service) Received 11 a.m. JERUSALEM, Monday. rE Arabs are now fiercely attacking Telaviv. The South Wales Borderers engaged them at Jaffa directly they landed. Reports state that 12 Americans were killed and 15 wounded in the course of the rioting at Hebron art the weekend. At least 40 Arabs have been found dead.

Migra’-ion-Officer Best was mortally wounded in a gallant attempt to rescue an Oxford undergraduate who was wounded while patrolling as a special constable in the Jewish suburb of Givatshoul. The Arabs were raking the street with rifle Are. Mr. Best .lashed out to cover the wounded student, but was himself shot through the chest. No measures for the evacuation of Americans from Palestine have been taken so far, but 30 residents have , taken refuge in the Jerusalem Con-*. aulate. The Americans killed were all students at the Lovodka Tulmudic School at Hebron. It Is reported that the Government j has invited the Arab sheiks to a con-! ference, to iind a means of ending the grave conflict in Palestine. There are many startling rumours, Including one that British airplanes are bombing Lefta, where Arab fanatics are refuging. Also, there is a story that the Arabs are attacking Kelandia. Jerusalem's northern suburb. The crisis, however, is believed past, now that British troops are patrolling.

DESTROYERS ON WAY

MORE TROOPS DEPART FROM MALTA CAUSE OF THE DISORDERS /Australia* and N.T.. Press Association) t United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright) Reed. 11 a.m. LONDON, Monday. Two British destroyers have left Malta for Palestine. The aircraft-carrier Courageous embarked a battalion of the Staffordshire Regiment, and sailed Immediately for Jaffa. A copyright message from a correspondent at Jerusalem, who was an eye-witness of the event 3 which led to the disturbances, has been received in London. The writer blames the Zionist Fascists for precipitating the crisis by assembling at Jerusalem on August 14—a Jewish fast day—for the purpose of making a provocative demonstration in the heart of the sacred Moslem quarter. Comparatively few real Jews, or ikose who follow the Jewish religion, appeared at the' Wailing Wall, but rhe area was crowded with brawny young Fascists from the colonies. They jostled and attacked every Moslem or Christian suspected of mocking them. A British police guard succeeded in preventing incidents. Next day, however, the Fascists marched in procession to the Moslem quarter and demonstrated before the house of the Grand Mufti. Moslem feeling was excited to the highest pitch. Two thousand Arabs <leßcended on the Wailing Wall and turned Jewish prayers and petitions. The next incident was the stabbing ot a Jewish boy in a quarrel with wVrab lads on a football field. The Zionists converted the funeral into a Nationalist anti-Moslem demonstration and endeavoured to enter the Arab city and lay the body at the Walling Wall. British policemen beat off the Jews with sticks. The story was exaggerated and spread throughout Palestine, it aroused the Moslems to the wildest excitement.

HEROIC GRAND MUFTI

WORKED DAY AND NIGHT FOR PEACE FORBADE CALL TO PRAYER (United Service) Reed. Noon. LONDON, Monday. An eye-witness of the Jerusalem disturbances says the credit for preventiQ S a general bloddy outbreak of the Arab world is largely due to the Moslem authorities of Jerusalem, who forked all day and night to discourage Mohammedan fury. The Grand Mufti Husseini toured the walls of the Holy City, imploring the Arabs to be quiet, but he was greeted with hostile shouts of “You ?T e to British and the Jews.” He is the national hero of Palestine «*nd Trans-Jordania, and is therefore able to speak for peace. He even forbade the call to to prayer on Friday night, and only the Christian bells were heard in terrified Jerusalem, where there are 2,000 Americans. In Palestine, practicaly all the Jews •re more or less iu danger.

The eye-witness, emphasising the fearful responsibility resting on the Zionist Fascist, says comparatively few real Jews appeared at the Wall, which was crowded with brawny young Fascists from the colonies, anxious to fight. They jostled every Moslem or Christian suspected of mocking.

U.S. ACTION DEMANDED

AMERICAN JEWS DEEPLY SHOCKED WANT CRUISER DISPATCHED (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) NEW YORK, Sunday. The State Department at Washington desires to hold aloof from interference in Palestine, as it considers that the British control of the situation is adequate for the protection of American interests. Nevertheless numerous prominent Jews have been roused by the latest reports to the effect that several American students have been killed in the riots. An American Jewish Congress is to meet tomorrow to formulate a protest for dispatch to the State Department against what are termed “the entirely unwarranted attacks by Arabs upon Jews in Palestine.” Mr. Emanuel Celler, Democrat member of the House of Representatives for Brooklyn, many of whose constituents have done much to further the Palestine movement, urged the Secretary of State, Mr. H. L. Stimson, not to view the situation complacently, but to dispatch the cruiser Raleigh to Palestine. He also asked him to make very strong representations to the British and Palestine Governments for the protection of Jews. Mr. Celler said American Jews were deeply shocked and demanded action. The Palestine movement hung in the balance and the inaction of the State Department might be unforgivable. Some statement of policy at least must be forthcoming.

THREE RABBIS DEAD

ALSO BRILLIANT YOUNG ARCHITECT (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 9 a.m. CAIRO, Monday. The official strength of the British troops sent to Palestine from Egypt will be liy tomorrow approximately two battalions, including armouredcar detachments, sappers and signallers. The news front Palestine is meagre, though the casualties hitherto reported on both sides are greater than the dispatches from Jerusalem indicated. It is reported that food prices are rising to a famine level. The Jerusalem dead include a brilliant young architect named Raitan, designer of some of the finest buildings in the city, also three Rabbis and four American students.

FORTY-FIVE JEWS SLAIN

59 REPORTED SERIOUSLY WOUNDED SITUATION REVIEWED British Official Wireless Reed. 10.55 a.m. RUGBY, Monday. Further disturbances occurred at Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine ou Saturday. Measures to deal with the situation that has arisen have been taken by the British authorities. In the absence of the High Commissioner, Sir John Chancellor. who is on his way back to Palestine from England, the situation was reviewed in the Colonial Office, which announced last night as follows :: “The acting High Commissioner in Palestine issued a communique on Saturday to the effect that disturbances had broken out in Jerusalem during the past twenty-four hours, and in other parts of Palestine, resulting in destruction of life and property. The Government in Palestine was taking the necessary measures to restore order, and was carrying out its duty of protecting life and property of all the inhabitants, without distinction, and would continue to do so until order wa3 completely restored. The acting High Commissioner added that the Government in Palestine was always prepared to receive deputations to represent the views and demands of the different communities; but that restoration of law and order was the first essential-

“Tile Acting-High Commissioner reports various attacks during Fridaynight. On the morning of August 24 two companies of the Transjordan frontier force arrived at Allenby Bridge and Jisr-El-Majamie respectively, first with the object of preventing the possibility of Transjordan Arabs coming to Jerusalem, and second to guard the Rutenberg works and to keep order in Beisan and in the Jezreel Valley. “At Nablus on the same morning the crowd attempted to invade the police barracks, with the result that the police opened fire, and there were eight casualties. There was a demonstration at Jaffa. The latest reports from Jaffa and Telaviv indicate that those places, while restless, are not disorderly. All is quiet at Haifa, it is regretted that Mr. Best, the Inspector of Immigration and Travels Section, was killed by rifle fire while oh patrol as a special constable. “The Acting-High Commissioner states that the casualties in the recent disturbance at Jerusalem are at present unknown.” The Colonial Office issues the following statement summarising the position in Palestine, on the information available as it was on Sunday morning: “The Acting-High Commissioner states that the old part of Jerusalem was then quiet, but there was still some desultory shooting and incendiarism in the new quarters. The situation in the Jewish outlying quarters and the suburbs of Jerusalem was not put under control, and there was still some looting, with casualties. The Jewish garden city of Talpioth, near the railway station, has been temporarily evacuated by the inhabitants. At Hebron on Saturday there was an attack by an Arab mob on the small Jewish quarters. Up to the present, the known casualties include 45 Jews, while 59 Jews were seriously wounded. The Moslem casualties were - eight killed and 10 wounded.” “Some 450 Jews have been temporarily accommodated in the police barracks, and the town is now reported to be quiet. “In Jaffa, the situation, as at eight o'clock on Sunday morning, caused some alarm, in view of a possible demonstration and the risk of a clash at the Telaviv district. The authorities, however, succeeded in averting the demonstration, and the Acting-High Commissioner felt, no doubt, that the arrival of the British warship Sussex at Jaffa early on Monday morning would ease the situation. "Nablus remained uneasy, but the outbreak had so far been averted. Safad was very uneasy. There were no reports of attacks on the Jewish colonies In the north. Gaza and Beersheba were quiet but restive. The Colonial Office adds that the acting High Commissioner issued the following proclamatiou on Sunday: “I give notice to the public of Palestine that, his Majesty’s forces are operating in the country with the sole object of quelling the present disturbances and promptly restoring order. Exceptional measures of repression will be avoided as much as possible, but the troops will not hesitate to use force against all disturbers of the peace, without distinction.”

POLISH JEWS ROUSED

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST BRITAIN (Austraiian and 2 V Z. Press Association) • (United Service) WARSAW, Monday. Polish Jews, especially those In Warsaw. express humiliation at the alleged indifference and Inactivity of the British authorities in connection with the disorders in Palestine. Many Hebrews, chiefly Zionist students, marched in procession through the main streets of Warsaw last night and held a hostile demonstration outside the British Legation. They were 'dispersed by the police.