Fresh Crisis Between Arabs And Jews

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 207, 1 September 1943, Page 5

Fresh Crisis Between Arabs And Jews

LONDON, Aug. 30. The Arabs and Jews in Palestine are reported to be building up in secret private armies well provided with modern weapons. The armies, which are well organised for guerrilla fighting, are reported to have field artillery and anti-aircraft guns hidden in the hill* It is believed that both sides have been supplied impartially by a gunrunning organisation operating from countries bordering on Palestine. Many of the most modern weapons have been stolen from the British armies in the Middle East. An intensely critical situation is developing as the time draws near for the cessation of Jewish immigration in Palestine. Under the terms of the British Government White Paper of 1939, Jewish immigration to Palestine was limited to 75,000 during the following five years, and was 1 to cease completely on April 1, 1944. The plau provided for the ultimate establishment of an Arab-Jewish State. The Jews claim that they have the right to independence in their own country. Both the Arabs and Jews are at present restive and both are determined that their destinies will not be settled without consultation with them. They are gradually building up machinery which threatens to break out into civil war.

Statements that British troop§, Army depots and Army and Air Force lorries had been used for large-scale gun running and ammunition-running to Palestine, were made at a trial earlier this month in which two British soldiers were sentenced to 15 years ’ imprisonment. Charged before a military court at Jerusalem they pleaded guilty to possessing firearms and ammunition without authority. The president oi the court said that the evidence pointed to a widespread organisation extending even to the Army. Evidence was given that soldiers armed with forged passports carried Italian, German and American guns and ammunition in service lorries on what apparently were legitimate convoy journeys from a num ber of places, including the El Alamein battlefield.