Assassination Of Mediator Worst Instance Of Palestine Violence

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14788, 29 September 1948, Page 5

Assassination Of Mediator Worst Instance Of Palestine Violence

STERN GANG'S CONSPICUOUS. PART IN BLOODSHED IN HOLY LAND

The assassination of Count Bernadottc hi the most revolting instance in the bloodshed and violence perpetrated by the Jewish terrorists in Palestine, in which the extreme left wing' organisation, the .Stern (Jang, has played a conspicuous part, says "Nemo" in an article written for the Evening Post. The murder of Lord Moyne was followed by the blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in which 90 people perished, the hanging of Sergeants Paice and Martin, and the murder of Roy Farran's brother. Now Count Bernadctte, the architect of truce in Palestine, the resolute man in search of peace, who not long ago said that a negotiator must be a square shooter, has been killed.

There is, unfortunately, no reason to suppose that the terrorist madmen have taken their last fling, but it brings tea climax the reign of terror and political murders in the Holy Land which carries an ugly and ominous message. The Stern Gang broke away from its parent body, the Haganah, in 1938 under the leadership of Abraham Stern, school teacher and poet, following disagreement between the Haganah High Command and the extremists within the Haganah. The split was over the policy of passive defence rather than a policy of retaliation in the face of the mounting Arab violence against Jewish life and property during the rebellion of 1936-39. Some three hundred men and women joined Stern and formed the organisation that has made itself the name of being the most ruthless, cold-blooded, and indiscriminate group of political murderers since the Russian nihilists and the Spanish anarchists. Change of Command Abraham Stern was cornered and shot dead in Tel Aviv during 1942 by British members of the C.I.D. of the Palestine Police Force, and the command of this desperate gang passed into the hands of Stern's lieutenant, Yavnici Yellin, with whom the writer was personally acquainted. He reformed, expanded and trained the members of the gang in street fighting and urban sabotage and refined its methods of selection and execution of political murders, which was concentrated on members of the British Army, police and administration as the date of winding up the mandate drew nearer. The mysticism and distorted fanatical idealism of Stern was replaced by the forceful, calculating and sinister personality of Yellin. His leadership carried the gang to new heights of violence which., seemingly, found no bounds. His criminal folly and that of his, followers was hoped to end with the termination of the mandate, but the most recent murders made it doubly clear that he and his gang have placed themselves beyond the pale.

Several unsuccessful attempts were made by the Israeli Govern-

ment to disband the gang and absorb the rank and file into the army and banish for all time the organisation that is a blot in the long *and tragic history of the Jewish people. Unfortunately, the maddened criminals seem still bent on precipitating the new-born State into chaos, and if possible, the renewal of hostilities with the Arab States during which they hope to gain control of both Palestine and Transjordan and proclaim the Jewish State within its historical boundaries. The dumbfounding and horrifying assassination of Count Bernadotte, the man who undertook the task of restoring peace in the Holy Land as mediator for the United Nations, the man who believed it uncourageous to attempt only the easy jobs, is another milestone in the story of Palestine. Whether it is a coincidence or part of a long-term plan no one knows yet, but those acquainted with contemporary history in Palestine cannot help recall the appearance of the murderous hand of terrorism vitiating the atmosphere whenever a basis for a settlement in Palestine is in danger of coming within the reach of realisation. But let it be known that the peoples of Palestine understand that highway murder will not influence the course of the United Nations, whose moral basis permits no compromise with violence.

New Phase The assassination of Count Bernadotte is a grim introduction to a new phase in Palestine, at a moment when the Palestine Arab extremists and their henchmen, led by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Am in el Husseini, have re-emerged on the political scene and are setting up an Arab Government to lead their people in a' renewed fight against the Jews cf Palestine.

It is clearer than it ever was that the Arab and Israeli peoples will have to cease truckling to a gang cf desperadoes and bullies if they wish to survive the implications of the assassination of the United Nations mediator, or. indeed, if they want to survive at all.