GRAVE TENSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1936, Page 7

GRAVE TENSION.

PALESTINE UNREST. Arab Protests Against Jewish Immigration. BRITISH TROOPS PARADE. United Press Association. —Copyright. (Received 1.30 p.m.) JERUSALEM, May 18. The tensity of the situation in Jerusalem has not decreased since the recent conflicts between Arabs and Jews. The Cameron Highlanders, headed by pipes and drums playing alternately with a brass band, paraded the city to-day, and troops patrolled a wide area, following the killing last night of three Jews when an unidentified man fired into an audience leaving a cinema in the Jewish quarter. The funeral to-day attracted 6000 spectators, who were protected by steellielmeted British police.

A scene occurred at the funeral of an Austrian Catholic, a mechanic, who was found shot dead in the street, presumably being taken by the Arabs for a Jew. Arabs snatched the coffin as it was being lowered to the grave in the Catholic Cemetery, Mount Sion, and carried it away. They encountered the police,, who rescued it and took it back to the cemetery. The Jews so far have shown the greatest restraint, in spite of constant provocation. Arson, bombings, shootings and other outrages are of daily occurrence. Jewish speakers blamed the Government for the bloodshed, and declared that the day's victims were the last they would give, adding: "We shall no longer permit them to kill us." The Hebrew Press accuses the administration of laxity in arresting Arab terrorists. The Arab strike leader, Hassan Sidty Dejani, suggested the conclusion of an equalitarian Anglo-Arabian treaty, and asserted that the strike would persist until the Arab demands were met in full.

OUT OF CONTROL. Arab Masses Encouraged to Defiance. ANGLICANS PRAY FOR PEACE. LONDON, May 18. The "Daily Telegraph" correspondent at Jerusalem says a wave of lawlessness is sweeping Palestine. The Arab leaders who encouraged the masses to defy authority have now lost control of the situation, and the rank and file are defying both their leaders' appeal for peaceful resistance and the High Commissioner's stern warnings against violence. The disturbances are the gravest since the war, and special piayers are being offered in the Anglican churches.

The question whether Jewish immigration is excessive is now superseded by the more serious problem of maintaining order. It is learned that the Government does not intend to yield to the Arabs' demand for the reduction of Jewish immigration, and the High Commissioner is expected to approve of a figure of 4000 a month.

Affairs in Jerusalem are paralysed owing to the Mayor's participation in the agitation, and attempts to call out Government servants were not unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the streets are so dangerous that it is necessary to have escorts and armed transport officers, and prominent citizens and officials prefer not to keep engagements outside the city.

The "Morning Post" Jerusalem correspondent reports that the road from Jerusalem to Haifa is unsafe and is strewn with nails and glass and is subject to daily stoning and shooting, while strikers, waylaying peasant women bringing eggs and other produce to the towns, destroy their goods. The peasantry are resentful and are sending men armed with bludgeons to protect their womenfolk.

The strike of dustmen is of grave menace to health, especially in the old city of Jerusalem, which is most insanitary. The commendable restraint of the Jewish population cannot be too highly praised. It is reported that an additional battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders is arriving from Egypt.