JEWS ROUNDED UP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 247, 31 July 1946, Page 5

JEWS ROUNDED UP

ECHO OF BOMB OUTRAGE SEARCH FOR PERPETRATORS (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) JERUSALEM, July 30. British troops and Palestine police early this morning began a round-up in Tel-Aviv of 3000 Jews, men and women, in an effort to find the terrorists responsible for the hotel bomb outrage, states the correspondent of the Associated Press. The operation in Tel-Aviv is officially described as tlie detention of all known and suspected members of Irgun Svai Leumi and the Stern Gang. Before they began the arrests, troops clapped down a curfew on the city. The curfew will be continued for an undisclosed period, but it will be lifted for two hours daily to enable residents to buy supplies. Those detained will be held for identification and investigation, also for an undisclosed period. Reuter’s correspondent _ says the oth Airborne Division is carrying out operations which are on the same scale as the big round-up on June 29. Tel-Aviv is under stricter control than ever before. The British Army has established road-blocks at the exits from the city and the Jewish police have been ordered to remain in their homes until sent tor. The troops have been ordered to shoot on sight any persons breaking the curfew. High Commissioner Broadcasts Lieut-Genpral Sir Alan Cunningham (High Commissioner in Palestine), broadcasting on his return to Jerusalem from a brief visit to London, said there was clear evidence that some, if not all, of the. terrorists responsible for the bomb outrage came from Tel-Aviv. “I wish to make it clear the military operations proceeding in the Tel-Aviv area have as their object a search for terrorists and are the direct result of the vile, horrible crime committed on July 22,” he added. “It has been and is my earnest wish that when military action is forced on us we should interfere as little as possible with the normal life of the country. The remedy is plain to see. If violence is eschewed normal occupations will take no harm, and endeavours for the betterment of Palestine can continue in peace. “I remind all the people of Palestine of the great, urgent need to find a solution to the Palestine problem. 'Discussions are to be held with both Arabs and Jews. Violence can only make the task longer and more difficult, if not impossible. It must be evident to all right-minded persons that mere protests are insufficient to wipe out the stains of this shameful, barbarous crime. “No movement of a terrorist character would have a chance of survival against the wishes of the people from which it springs. It lies with the Jewish people whether they will help or hinder the rooting out of the cancer which, if it remains, can only recoil against them.”

SEARCH FOR TERRORISTS \ UNPRECEDENTED CURFEW (Rec. 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, July 30. More than 16,000 troops are engaged in the Tel-Aviv rouncl-up, says Reuter’s Tel-Aviv correspondent. . Operations are expected to last at least five days. The troops, have already arrested numbers of members of Irgun Zvai Leumi. Major-General Cassels, who is in charge of the operation, said he was determined by hook or by crook to find the terrorists. The troops aro combing Tel Aviv building by building. A spokesman for the Jewish Agency said the curfew in Tel-Aviv and neighbourhood was, unprecedented in severity. The decision to shoot on sight any one, even inadvertently contravening the order, was a draconic meas ure the like of which had never previously been known in Palestine. “We can only hope the troops engaged in these operations will maintain restraint, although General, Cunningham’s broadcast is scarcely expected to serve as a moderating factor.” A Damascus message says the Syrian Prime Minister, Abdullah Jaliry, stated that Syria was in agreement with other Arab Governments, and intended to refuse the British invitation to the Palestine round-table conference in London. “It is illogical that those possessing the right should meet on a footing of equality with those who aspire to deprive them of it.” It is officially stated that 143 Jews, including 10 women, have been detained for further investigation as a result of to-day’s mass comb-out in Tel-Aviv. There were no incidents. Police launches cruised along the city’s two-mile-long seafront to prevent any suspects escaping. Barbed-wire cages, erected for those detained in the city, were cordoned off by 13,000 paratroops, a platoon or company of whom were sent to.every street. They moved quietly and took the occupants of eacli building before the Palestine police, who sat on trestle tables in the streets to check credentials. No telephone or telegraph communications with outside were allowed, and no Hebrew newspapers will be published during the search. Royal Engineers sappers are manning essential services.