FOUR TERRORISTS HANGED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25161, 17 April 1947, Page 7

FOUR TERRORISTS HANGED

Security Measures In Palestine HOUSE CURFEWS IMPOSED (Rec. 10.45 p.m.) JERUSALEM, April 16. Four Jewish terrorists, including Dov Gruner, were hanged in the Acre prison to-day. Hanged with Gruner were Mordecai Alkoshi, Eliezer Kashani, and David Rosenbaum, who were sentenced for carrying arms and whips on the night of December 29, when Major Brett and three British n.c.o.’s were flogged. Reuter’s correspondent in Jerusalem says Palestine’s biggest security measures yet began this morning with house curfews in the Jewish areas of Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Petach-Tikvah. The security measures put about 400,000 Jews under house arrest. Armoured cars equipped with loudspeakers awoke the Jews to announce the curfew.

Two policemen informed Mr Max Seligman, the executed men’s lawyer, and Mrs Friedman, Gruner’s sister, of the Hangings which occurred at dawn.

The bodies of the four men are reported to have been taken to Roshninah where, at their request, they will be buried near the grave of Sholomo ben Yousef, who was hanged in 1937, and was the first to be executed in Palestine as a result of a sentence by a British military court. Soon after the executions posters appeared in Tel Aviv with the wording: “A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Soldiers removed the posters. The correspondent of the British United Press says Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Cunningham, the High Commissioner in Palestine, called a special meeting of the executive council last night. It is believed that it was decided in the early hours of this morning that the executions should be carried out.

British civilians living outside Jerusalem’s security zone have been advised to move into the safety area, as the authorities openly fear retaliation by Irgun Zvai Leumi.