ENDING ENMITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1938, Page 7

ENDING ENMITY

ARAB LEADER MAKES PEACE WITH GOVERNMENT BATTLE IN HEBRON HILLS. DISCOVERY OF TERRORIST AMBUSH. (Independent Cable Service.) JERUSALEM, December 19. Sheik Yessef Adbul Hamid, a former rebel leader, who had a price of £5OO on his head, made peace yesterday with the Government, when he declared before General Connor, the military commander of Jerusalem, and other officers in the presence of thousands of peasants and villagers from the mountain plateau of South Hebron: “I have become a good man and am not going to fight any more against the British. I love them like my own brothers. You are the messengers of peace, restoring calm in Palestine. We want no other ruler than King George.” Previously planes had discovered and machine-gunned armed terrorists lying in ambush in the Hebron Hills to await the arrival of General Connor to attend the peace demonstration. Infantry were rushed up and a sixhour battle ensued in which a pilot and a soldier were wounded. There were many casualties among the terorists. QUICK ACTION GOOD WORK BY AIR FORCE. TROOPS CALLED BY WIRELESS. (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) JERUSALEM, December 19. Thirty Arabs were killed and fifteen captured in the Hebron battle, General Connor’s British guard of honour which left the Arab demonstration of loyalty to engage the Arabs was reinforced by the Worcestershires, who were summoned by wireless. Air Force spotters prevented a serious ambush of British military and and civil administrators. HEBRONITE ARABS DEMONSTRATION OF LOYALTY TO BRITAIN. THANKS FOR THE DISPERSAL, OF GANGS. JERUSALEM, December 19. Amid handclapping as the Union Jack unfurled, 3000 Hebronite Arabs today demonstrated loyalty to Britain in the presence of British political and military leaders. , The Shiek, representing 60,000 Arabs, thanked the military authorities for dispersing the criminal gangs.