PRECAUTIONS IN PALESTINE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25250, 31 July 1947, Page 7

PRECAUTIONS IN PALESTINE

BRITISH TROOPS PUT ON ALERT

JEWISH APPEALS TO IRGUN

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, July 29. Military headquarters has warned British troops to be on the alert against an attempt by the Irgun Zvai Leumi to kidnap a third soldier in retaliation for the execution of the three terrorists who were hanged at the Acre prison this morning. A man claiming to speak for the Irgun telephoned Tel Aviv newspapers this morning to report that the kidnapped British sergeants, Clifford Martyn and Mervyn Paice, were then being executed. The Jewish National Council has broadcast an appeal to save the lives of the two sergeants. “Any act of retaliation against these two innocent British soldiers would be an unpardonable sin as well as a crime against Palestine Jewry,” it said. The Zionist Federation has telegraphed the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, transmitting for publication a message which the federation received

from the father of Paice. in a lastminute attempt to influence the Irgun to exercise compassion. The Jerusalem correspondent of Reuters says that only a few officials watched the execution of the Jewish terrorists. The hangman was a British police sergeant The first man walked to the gallows at 4 a.m., the second at 4.30 a.m., and the third at 4.45 a.m. A rabbi was called from Jerusalem to the •Acre prison last night. 'Hie bodies were buried at Safed alongside Dov Gruner and three other executed Irgun gunmen. The relatives had been instructed to go to Safed to await the arrival of the bodies.

Rabbi Silberman, at the burial service at Safed, described the three terrorists as “martyrs who gave their lives for the Jewish people and Jewish redemption.” Jewish terrorists to-night visited shops, cafes, and cinemas in Tel Aviv and ordered the owners to close as a mark of respect for the three executed terrorists. Most owners, under the threat of physical violence, obeyed. The Palestine Government intends to empower the Army to blow up property if there is evidence that it has been used as a base for violence. The Object is to give the security forces a stronger hand.