Arabs Start Attacks On Jews

Northern Advocate, 3 December 1947, Page 5

Arabs Start Attacks On Jews

Serious Riots Break Out In Jerusalem

LONDON, Tue. (10 a.m.). —Haganah fire squads stood by. in Zion Square, Jerusalem, tonight in case Arabs broke out of the curfew which British authorities clamped down on the Arab quarter after a day of rioting, says Reuters Jerusalem correspondent. Tt was later announced by Haganah that it had mobilised 10,000 men and women volunteers throughout Palestine to line up with British troops and police to meet renewed Arab assaults. Reuters Jerusalem correspondent says two companies of the Haganah Army, which emerged today from the underground .for the first time, were tonight watching over the Jewish Montefiore quarter in Jerusalem. Their arms were sticks. Their average age is 16 years. British troops barricaded British civil and military headquarters at King David Hotel.

British Army fire brigades had been summoned in the afternoon from outlying camps, as Arab fire-raisers set a task beyond local resources. More than 50 Jewish shops were burning at'one time during the day.

mass hysteria” as both Arabs and Jews gave vent to passionate hatreds and lust for blood.

The correspondent says both sides tasted blood and their thirst is not yet quenched. Jewish leaders tonight appeared to be successfully curbing Jewish attempts at reprisals. British police arrested six Jews stated to have been found sniping at Arabs, and two others found carrying hand-grenades. A Haganah spokesman said the Jews would give the Arabs another 24 hours before taking retaliatory action. British authorities extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew to midday tomorrow to give both sides a chance to cool down.

Jews, in retaliation, fired the biggest Arab-owned cinema, the Rex, but the British and Haganah combined to keep hysterical crowds of Arabs and Jews apart and prevent the Jewish desire for revenge turning the bedlam in Jerusalem into a serious race battle. Casualty figures available early this evening showed that two Jews were dead and 27 wounded, and five Arabs wounded, with many more slightly injured on both sides.

The Associated Press correspondent describes watching “a cauldron of