Palestine was comparatively quiet today as the Government took vigorous precautions to maintain order after having apparently suppressed open Arab revolt that culminated forty-two days of disorders.
The British warship Barham dropped anchor today in Haifa harbor with Sir Dudley Pound, admiral of the Mediterranean fleet, on board.
No serious incidents had been reported anywhere in the country by early evening.
An official communique said shots were fired at the Acre police station. Police also exchanged shots with Arabs at Ein Harod, Har Kenaan, Ramat Kovesh and other places. Snipers fired at patrols on the Jerusalem-Nablus road.
The communique said numerous Arab villages were searched for arms and many persons arrested after a series of pitched battles between troops and Arabs in the Tulkarem district.
Reports from Cairo that a British detachment had surrendered to Arabs at Gaza were officially denied. The communique also said that not a single British soldier had been killed anywhere. An Arab constable was accidentally shot dead by an Arab watchman at Lydda.
Bombs were thrown last night at troops in Jaffa, the communique said but no casualties were reported.
The police appealed to the public today over the radio to assist in detection of persons strewing nails on roads to obstruct traffic.
JEWS RECRUITED AS POLICE
With Arab policemen regarded as unreliable — a number were reported to have disobeyed orders to fire on rioters — the authorities hastened the recruiting of Jewish youths for police duty.
Hebrew University students, laborers and German Jewish youths were signed up in scores as police. The Jewish Agency for Palestine was registering candidates for police and similar enrollment was in progress throughout the country.
(Besides new recruits, the police forces stand at 3,000, comprising 1,800 Arabs, 800 Britons and 400 Jews.)
More than a dozen Arab policemen were brought to Jerusalem disarmed for refusing to obey orders from their superiors.
Jewish omnibuses and lorries numbering 170 were being used to transport troops. The authorities have cancelled contracts with Arab bus firms.
Temporary restoration of order made it possible for Jews to observe the festival of Shabuoth.
Troops with searchlights combed the hills near Nablus last night for the hideouts of Arab gangs. Twenty Arab strike leaders were exiled to isolated villages in addition to twenty exiled last weekend.
The Arab newspaper, Al Jamea el Islamia, was closed down and its editor, Farouki, confined in his home at Ramleh for three months. The Jerusalem municipality cancelled contracts with striking Arab firms.
British officials evacuated their families from Jaffa, where tension was high, to the neighboring all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
