ARAB REBELS ORGANIZED

Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 7

ARAB REBELS ORGANIZED

POWER OF GRAND MUFTI HEAVY CASUALTIES AFTER AMBUSH DEATH-ROLL OF 130 IN 24 HOURS (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received October 7, 10.20 p.m.) LONDON, October 7. The situation in North Palestine is particularly bad, says the Cairo correspondent of The Daily Mail. The leader of the Arab rebellion is now fugitive in Beyrout from British authority, and Abdel Rahman Haj Mohammed is com-mander-in-chief of the organized rebels. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is more powerful than ever, and the Palestine Government holds a shadow of office. Palestine is becoming a land of razed villages and empty houses whose occupants have joined the rebels because there is nowhere else to’ go. Abdel Rahman issues daily bulletins which mysteriously appear on doorsteps in troubled areas.

A hundred and thirty Arabs have been killed by British troops in 24 hours, making an aggregate of 500 deaths in a fortnight, which is a record casualty list. Arabs damaged a railway to the extent of £2OOO, ambushed three road trucks, killed two and wounded one of the Jewish drivers, and set fire to the trucks. A fourth Jew is missing. The police subsequently killed two of the brigands among bands in the vicinity. The encounter flared up into a general engagement in which troops and aircraft participated. Thirty rebels had lined the road, cutting off local help. The first police armoured car had inflicted 10 casualties \ when air force aeroplanes and soldiers appeared, being reinforced by villagers till they totalled 200. They drove the bandits back, eventually dispersing them near Tarsfiiha after 50 had been killed. There were no casualties among the Government forces. Additional terrorism accounts for the deaths of two Arab constables and one Jewish constable.

Arabs also punctured the pipe line, set fire to the oil and cut telephone wires in the Nazareth district.