ARABS SEIZE ARMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22511, 15 December 1947, Page 5

ARABS SEIZE ARMS

POLICE POST RAID , CLASHES WITH JEWS h;- FIERCE BATTLES FOUGHT v- ~<il a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 14. • ' Armed Arabs raided an Arab supernumerary police depot at Ramleh, near Lydda, late last night and stole 400 rifles, three Bren-guns, six Sten guns and 60,000 rounds of ammunition, says Reuter’s correspondent in _ Jerusalem. . British guardsmen manning a roadblock in Ramleh fought a 30-minute battle with Arabs who wounded one British officer. Tha Arabs, in three trucks, apparently tried to rush the roadblock. They abandoned two trucks from one of which the troops recovered 76 rifles, three Bren guns and six Sten guns. The troops captured three Arabs. It is officially announced that the deathroll in the Arab-Jewish fighting reached 190 for a fortnight since the United Nations’ partition decision. The figures comprise 84 Jews, 93 Arabs, seven British security police, five Palestinian police and one Armenian. The deathrool for the past 24 hours is 28—24 Arabs, three Jews and one 'British. ' Unofficial Arab and Jewish sources say that the total deathroll is at least 220. A grenade thrown at an Arab bus in Jerusalem killed an Arab child playing nearby and wounded another Arab reports thi Associated Press correspondent. All-Day Sniping A bomb damaged a Jewish shop in Haifa. Eleven thousand tons of imported merchandise are piled up in Haifa port where the disturbances nave partially paralysed transport. Members of a Haganah post at Holon, south of Tel Aviv and residents of the Arab village of Tel Errish sniped at each other throughout the day. The Haganah also claimed that Arabs wounded two Jewish passengers on the Holon bus. and police armoured cars arrested six of their fighters and confiscated their arms. Reuter’s correspondent in Jerusalem says that infantrymen of the Trans- ■ jordan Arab Legion on garrison duty in Palestine clashed with Jews at Ben Shemen east of Lydda, killing 12 and wounding 10 Jews. From Cairo the British United Press correspondent reports that 100,000 Arabs staged a huge demonstration there against the partitioning of Palestine, All Arab and Moslem countries were represented.. Egyptian political religious and professional organisations attended. The leader urged the crowd to keep the demonstration peaceful. Assault on Arab Village Nineteen Arabs were killed and more .. than ;<BO wounded in encounters with Jews in Palestine yesterday, state agency reports from Jerusalem. Three Jews were killed and a number wounded. The authorities imposed a curfew in Haifa and Safed. In an attack at dusk on the Arab village of Alyahudia, north of Lydda airport, Jews killed seven Arabs, seriously wounded seven and slightly wounded several. Wearing khaki uniforms and steel • helmets 24 Jews entered the village-in four military-type vehicles. They bombed and damaged several houses, fired on a police armoured car and on a cafe before withdrawing, leaving one of their vehicles on fire. ... A Haganah source said: “Two Arabs ■' Were .killed and 30 wounded when a 'iT- Jewia striking force penetrated the village to wipe out a nest of brigands who <*■ - had attacked Tel Aviv.” Three of the four vehicles are be- • i lieved to have been cut off in Arab ■'■' territory after the attack on the vil- '' * [ Bomb-Throwing Incidents A bomb attack by Jews on a Jaffa coffee house killed six Arabs and wounded 40. A neighbouring Arab tax company office and a cinema were dami&\ aged by the bomb. iii»c A bomb was thrown from a taxi into i! a crowd of Arabs waiting for buses near Damacus Gate at Jerusalem. >hi‘- Arab sources report that five people i'Were killed and 30 injured. The taxi after a running battle with a ;i spgltce car. ii f.-.c Angry crowds of Arabs gathered-at ~ * the acene as the dead and wounded were removed. Police reinforcements In armoured cars moved into the area. One Arab was killed and two Jews and two Arabs wounded in sporadic fighting In Safed. Arabs fired on a Jewlsh-owned match factory at Acre yesterday. The flames spread to nearby stores, causing damage estimated at £125,000. Fires broke out In two Jewish departmental stores in Jerusalem. The secret military committee of the Arab League Council, after three days’ talks, has drawn up “the battle plans” for Palestine, reports Reuter’s correspondent in Cairo.