MARTIAL LAW IN PALESTINE

Southland Times, Issue 23335, 20 October 1937, Page 5

MARTIAL LAW IN PALESTINE

British Preparations Completed HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS OVER CURFEW (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) LONDON, October 18. In view of the continuance of terrorism in Palestine, preparations have been completed for enforcing martial law, which is believed to be imminent There were hundreds of arrests today for breaches of the curfew law, and an Arab doctor, Abu Labbi, was arrested for refusing to give the names of terrorists under treatment Black Watch troops are rounding up Arabs who raided a police station a. Daharia and stole five rifles. The Beirut correspondent of The Times says that the Mufti of Jerusalem has arrived from Jaffa. The Jerusalem correspondent of The Daily Herald reports that the Mufti is at present under an armed guard in a village in Lebanon. He is planning to visit Italy, presumably to seek Signor Mussolini’s support of his plans to harass the British authorities in Palestine. The Mufti before his flight told friends of his intention of going to Italy. The wireless post office service at Lydda has been temporarily patched up. Investigations show that the raiders were familiar with the movements of a small patrol which was resting in a hut when the fire started in which valuable apparatus, documents and passports were destroyed. This is the second time incendiaries have destroyed the whole of the Lydda wireless equipment. The total loss is between £15,000 and £20,000. Signor Mussolini’s newspaper, Popolo d’ltalia (Milan), referring to the destruction of houses in Lydda as a reprisal by the British, accuses Britain of sowing destruction and massacre in the Holy Land which must arouse horror throughout the world. “We are waiting,” it says, “to see if the Anglican prelates, in the name of the Gospel, or the democratic newspapers, on behalf of the so-called immortal principles, approve of the new Herodian orders in the Holy Land.” Ethiopian Moslems and Arabs have telegraphed to the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain) denouncing the British policy in Palestine and joining with their Palestine brethren in rejection of the dismemberment of Palestine and separation from the remainder of the Arab world.