73 Murdered By Jewish Terrorists

Northern Advocate, 23 January 1947, Page 5

73 Murdered By Jewish Terrorists

(Received 1 p.m.)

LONDON, January 22

REPLYING to questions in the House of Commons, the Colonial Secretary (Mr Creech Jones) said 73 British subjects—--15 Palestine policemen, 45 members of the British forces, and 13 civilians—were murdered in Palestine last year.

The authorities were unable to convict the culprits of these murders because of the difficulty of collecting exact information through lack of cooperation from the Jewish community.

He was satisfied the military authorities had all the necessary powers to protect the lives of British subjects from terrorist activities.

He answered a barrage of questions from both sides of the House on the circumstances of the Palestine floggings.

In answer to a question whether the troops had been commended for their forebearance and restraint on the face of widespread provocation, he said that the Government had repeatedly expressed appreciation. He asked for notice on a question whether the soldiers concerned would be given any compensation. Terrorist outrages in Palestine last year caused damage amounting to £600.000, stated the chief secretary of the Government (Sir Henry Gurney). He added; “Many people in Palestine have not schools to go to, nor health services, because they indulged in the destruction of their own facilities." GENERAL APPROVAL The promise of action against terrorism given by the leaders of Palestinian Jewry has won the approval of a large number of Jews, although the revisionist Press has not yet commented and the terrorist groups themselves have not yet replied, says The Times correspondent. A Jewish Agency spokesman said that Jewish organisations were confident that they knew how this undertaking could be carried out, but he emphasised that there would be no shooting between Jews except as a final resort because of the general loathing of civil war. He added that the stage had not been reached where Jews would intervene to assist British people if they were being attacked.

II AG AN AH POLL This note of caution is advisable, the correspondent says, because many difficulties, moral and physical, have still to be overcome. For one thing, if the Jewish National Council and others request permission legally to arm taxi-drivers, teachers and others likely to be threatened, the Government will find it extremely difficult to give its approval. Moreover, the Jews have been taught for too long to regard the Government as their political enemy for them suddenly to go to extremes of cooperation. It is known that a form of poll is now being carried out among Haganah members, and also by Haganah members themselves among the Jewish public, seeking an opinion on what should be done against the terrorists. The majority of the replies so far ffiave not favoured actually taking up aggressive arms, but only giving information to the police or placing the terrorists under Jewish custody. GEORGE MEDAL AWARD Sergeant Edward Alfred Smith, of the Palestine Poli'ce, was awarded the George Medal for the rescue of three injured soldiers from the ruins of the King David Hotel, Jerusalem, after the explosion of July 22, 1946,. Sergeant Smith spent six hours tunnelling under the debris in dust and explosive fumes, disregarding the constant danger of further explosions, fire and the collapse of the tunnel. Representatives of "the Palestine Arab Higher Organisation, who are going to London tomorrow, held two meetings with the Mufti of Jerusalem (Haj Amin el Husseini). It is learned that they decided to demand complete independence for Palestine and would not discuss any othr proposal. ' The law will punish by flogging in future only youths of 16 and under, whereas at present youths up to 18 are liable, says, a, message from Jerusalem.

“MEANS CIVIL WAR” “the Jewish National Council’s threat (o stop our operations means civil war in Palestine,” said a woman announcer on the Irgun radio. She warned the Jewish community that “a full-fledged fratricidal war” would follow any attempt to oppose Irgun. The radio asserted that Haganah two years ago cooperated with the British against Irgun. which had not protested because it hoped for combatant unity. “Haganah is now trying to doublecross.” *