JEWS ROUT ARABS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 17 December 1947, Page 7

JEWS ROUT ARABS

PALESTINE CLASH BRITISH POLICE LEAVE TWO JEWISH CENTRES (N.Z.P. A.—Reuter—Copyright.) (11 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 16. The headquarters of the Jewish defence army, llaganah, claimed that Haganah forces surrounded a large group of uniformed and heavily armed Arabs at Harkona, five miles north of Petach Tikvahvand destroyed "the larger part” of it reports the Associated Press correspondent in Jerusalem. The Arabs are reported to be an advance scouting party from the Arab town of Tulkarm. The Jews put them to flight when they were first observed north of Tei Aviv and a gun battle began when the Arabs took refuge in abandoned houses on the outskirts of Yarkona. Reuter's correspondent in Jerusalem reports that the British police forces began their withdrawal from the Jewish areas of Tel Aviv, Ramatgan and Petach Tikvah. The withdrawal is expected to be finished at midnight. The Jewish civil guard will be left in control of the area which contains five Arab villages with a population of 5000. The Jewish Agency has reopened its campaign to obtain legal permission for the Haganah, the agency’s defence force, to carry arms, reports the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Jerusalem. Appeals will be made in London and New York.

The agency charges the Palestine Government with failing to maintain law and order and argues that the Jews must, therefore, be allowed to defend themselves,