TEL-AVIV FAMILIES EVACUATED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22241, 29 January 1947, Page 5

TEL-AVIV FAMILIES EVACUATED

TROOPS’ HOUSE-TO-HOUSE COMB-OUT (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (11a.m.) . LONDON, January 28. The Jewish terrorist kidnappers this afternoon released Mr. Justice Ralph Windham and, according to a Jewish Agency spokesman, Major H. I. Collins has also been released. The spokesman said the police had been warned to pick up Major Collins outside Jerusalem. Mr. Justice Windham was found near a cinema on the seafront of Tel Aviv. The Associated Press correspondent says a car drove up to the cinema, a box was rolled from it, and out stepped the judge. * An earlier note sent to the Hebrew newspapers in Tel Aviv by I Irgun Zvai Leumi promised the release of Mr. Justice Windham and Major Collins “within the hours.” The practical aim has been achieved. Gruner was not executed.”

Fifty British families were last night evacuated from Tel Aviv to Sarona, a strongly defended police encampment on outskirts of the city. The families were mainly Government officials and their wives and children. There is a dawn-to-dusk curfew in Tel Aviv.

Troops and police have begun a house-to-house search of the Jewish township of Petach • Tikvah. The car of the kidnappers of Mr. Justice Windham was found abandoned near the township. Gruner Refuses to Appeal Dov Gruner’s lawyer said Gruner had refused to appeal to the Privy Council against his death sentence. This morning the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Council held a special meeting to discuss the ultimatum by the High Commissioner, General Sir Alan Cunningham, demanding the return of the kidnapped Britons which, it is understood, was due to expire at 5 p.m. local time tomorrow. After the meeting the Jewish Agency issued a statement in the name of the Jewish community ‘demanding the immediate, unconditional release of Mr. Justice Windham and Major Collins. . . Searches were continuing when the announcements that the men had been released were made. ' Two members of the Jewish Bar Association visited the Chief Justice, Sir William Fitzgerald, to express the as-

sociation’s condemnation of the kidnapping of Mr. Justice Windham. The deputation told Sir William that Jewish barristers in Tel Aviv had decided not to accept any briefs in Tel Aviv until Mr. Justice Windham was returned unharmed.

Jerusalem has been placed out of bounds to all British troops until further notice. All ranks have been warned to restrict their movement, particularly after dark, to essential duty and journeys. Jerusalem Prison Clash

Reuter’s correspondent in Jerusalem says a, clash between Arab and Jewish prisoners occurred for the second successive day in Jerusalem's central prison following the Jews’ threat to stage a sit-down strike as a protest against Gruner’s death sentence. The Arabs cornered one Jew and refused to release him.

The Exchange Telegraph’s correspondent says the Arabs staged an uproar as a postponement of Gruner’s execution. The police were called in and had to use tear gas. Both sides suffered casualties. A Jewish nursing orderly later died from injuries received in the clash. Palestine’s prison commissioner and some warders were also injured.