SECRET ARMIES IN PALESTINE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 206, 1 September 1943, Page 5

SECRET ARMIES IN PALESTINE

BUILT UP BY ARABS AND JEWS Recd. 6 p.m. London. Aug. 30. Arabs and Jews in Palestine are reporting to be building up in secret private armies well provided with modern weapons. The armies, which are well organised for guerrilla fighting. are reported to have field artillery and anti-aicraft guns hidden in the hills. It is believed that both sides have been supplied impartially by a gunrunning organisation operating from countries bordering Many of the most modern weapons have been stolen from the British armies in the Middle East. An intensely critical situation is developing as the time draws near for the cessation of Jewish immigration In Palestine. Under the terms of the British Government White Paper of 1939, Jewish immigration to Palestine was limited to 75,000 during the following five years and was to cease completely on April 1, 1944. The plan provided for the ultimate establishment of an Arab-Jewish State. The Jews and the Arabs claim that they have the right to independence in their own country. Both Arabs and Jews are at present restive and both are determined that their destinies will not be settled without a consultation with them. They are gradually building up machinery which threatens to break out into civil war.