ARAB STRIKE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 19, 2 November 1938, Page 5

ARAB STRIKE

PALESTINE DEVELOPMENT. CLOSING OF ALL THE SHOPS. DEATH FOR APPLYING- FOR PASS. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 9.10 a.m.) JERUSALEM, November 1.

The strike of Arab drivers has begun. The rebel junta threatens death to any Arab who applies for a pass, which the military have decreed he must possess for travel between towns.

Arab shops throughout the country are closed, and 400 Arab labourers have not reported for work at. the Iraq petroleum works at Haifa, where the railway workshops are closed. Disorders are reported at Jaffa, Haifa and Nablus. Troops are conducting a liouse-to-houso search.

TRADE AT A STANDSTILL. SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE. LONDON, October 31. The Haifa correspondent tho “Daily Mail” says that Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, will arrive in the flagship, H.M.S. Warspite tomorrow, and will fly to. Jerusalem to confer with the military authorities .

The conference coincides with the campaign entering a decisive stage. The Arabs have organised a general strike, to begin to-morrow in opposition to the Government’s order requiring everyone journeying, even on a donkey, to possess a permit. The Arabs refuse to apply for permits because of their leaders’ threat of death. Accordingly tho whole Arab population lias been brought to a standstill. Trade between the villages and the towns has ceased. The Government has taken steps to maintain the water supply, sanitary . services, and electric power and lighting, run mainly by Jewish labour, which will be protected. It is regarded as ominous that all the moneyed Arabs of Northern Palestine have crossed the Syrian border on a motor tour.

. The Galilee, Haifa, Safed, Tiberias, and Nazareth areas to-day were in a state of apprehension. There is no doubt that the,' Arabs are animated by a desperate spirit of resistance. The strike is stated to be 100 per cent, effective.

EARLY SOLUTION FORECAST. SPEECH BY THE KING OF IRAQ. (Independent Cable Service.) (Received This Day, 9.20 a.m.) BAGDAD, November 1. King Ghazi, in a speech at the opening of Parliament, said that Iraq’s recent efforts on behalf of the Arabs in Palestine would probably result in a solution acceptable to the Arabs in the immediate future. "