SEVERE ACTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26542, 18 August 1947, Page 5

SEVERE ACTION

PALESTINE DISORDERS NEW SECURITY MEASURES MANY OUTRAGES REPORTED Rec. 10.40 p.m. JERUSALEM, Aug. 17. A Palestine Government fcommunique stated that severe action will be taken against any person attempting violence or breaking the peace. The communique announced that security measures have been intensified iri the Jaffa and Tel-Aviv areas. “There is no justification for individuals taking the law into their own hands. The High Commissioner calls on all members of the community to avoid provocation and exercise re- ’ strain t,” The police reported that Arabs set fire to a large Jewish-owned benzine products plant on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv. Appeal for Unity irgun Zvai Leumi called on Arabs and Jews to “ fight the common enemy together” and cease disturbances which “ are carrying out the intentions of the British.” Irgun’s statement was distributed in Hebrew and Arabic pamphlets in Jaffa and Tel-Aviv, and warned Arabs that Irgun was strong enough to track down murderers in Arab ranks. A mob of Arabs stabbed a Jewish shopkeeper in the Jaffa Tel-Aviv border area. A military patrol shot dead an Arab who failed to halt when challenged in the curfewed area of Jaffa. Deaths brought the week’s unofficial total to 20 Arabs and 13 Jews. House Blown Up Eleven Arabs were killed in a gunmen’s attack on an Arab house in an orange grove six miles from Tel-Aviv The victims were four young men. The Arab watchman, his wife and five children, and two more children are still trapped in the ruins of the house, which was demolished by an explosion The Haganah admitted responsibility for the blowing up of the house. It alleged that the Arab family was responsible for the attack on a night club in Tel-Aviv on August 10, when four Jews were killed and an Arab fatally wounded. The attack on the house occurred when 20 Arabs were sitting around a fire in the orange grove. Twentyfive Jews with automatic weapons began picking off the men, four of whom were killed and one injured. The remainder fled, some into the grove, the others into the basement of the house, where the Jews exploded charges.