UNREST IN PALESTINE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 12486, 21 October 1938, Page 2

UNREST IN PALESTINE

STORMING OF OLD CITY

London, Oct. 19

Troops intend to storm the Old City later to-day in order to clear out the rebels, says a message from Jerusalem. This will be followed by the replacement of the district commissioners by military governors and the placing of the police force under military control, tantamount to the establishment of martial law throughout Palestine. Major-Gen-eral O’Connor has been appointed military governor of Jerusalem. Two thousand troops have surrounded the Old City, which is now in a complete state of siege. Tension is at a very high point, as it is feared that at any hour there may be an outbreak of mass terrorism eclipsing the sporadic murders of the last few months. The sound of machine-gun and rifle fire has been heard throughout the city since dawn yesterday. While the British are fighting in the Old City, which has not known such an experience since its capture by Saladin in the 12th century, 20,000 troops are preparing for a virtual reconquest of the entire cotuntry. Armoured car detachments and patrols completely surround the Old City, large areas of which are cordoned off. Aeroplanes are constantly flying overhead. Two Air Force pilots were wounded by gunfire yesterday. . The majority of the 27,000 inhabitants of the Old City have been prisoners in their houses for 3 6 hours, many of them without water. Several children and non-partisans have been wounded by ctoss-fire near the Mosque. The rebels in the Old City are estimated at 400. A military Court passed the death sentence on an Arab on a charge of possessing firearms. German agents closely in t ouca with the Grand Mufti, the exiled leader of the Palestine Arabs, are providing arms and ammunition, consignments of which are reported to have been landed recently at La-takia,-Saida and Athlit, says the Beirut correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. Two of the Grand Mufti’s envoys have gone to the United States to raise funds from Arab emigres, says the Jerusalem correspondent of the Daily Mail.