LONG-FEARED OUTBREAKS OF ARAB VIOLENCE FLAMED TODAY IN MANY PARTS OF PALESTINE AS THOUSANDS OF JEWS MOURNED AT THE WAILING WALL AND ELSEWHERE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY OVER THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO PARTITION THE HOLY LAND.
ACTS OF TERRORISM BY SCATTERED ARAB BANDS COINCIDED WITH THE BEGINNING LAST NIGHT OF THE JEWISH DAY OF LAMENTATION FOR THE FALL OF JERUSALEM, TISHA B’AB.
TWENTY-THOUSAND JEWS MARCHED HERE IN THE PROCESSION TO THE WAILING WALL LAST NIGHT, AND THOUSANDS MORE CONVERGED ON THE WALL TODAY. THEY KISSED THE ANCIENT STONES AND SWORE THE TRADITIONAL OATH:
“YAM ESHKACHEICH JERUSHALAYIM” — “IF I FORGET THEE, O JERUSALEM, MAY MY RIGHT HAND FORGET.”
(THE BRITISH PLAN FOR PARTITIONING PALESTINE LEAVES JERUSALEM OUTSIDE OF THE PROPOSED JEWISH STATE).
SYNAGOGUES THE COUNTRY OVER WERE CROWDED WITH MOURNERS, WHILE CROWDS IN THE STREETS HEARD “KINOTH” (MOURNING PRAYERS) BROADCAST. HEBREW NEWSPAPERS RECALLED VERSES FROM THE PROPHETS RECLAIMING JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL.
SIMULTANEOUSLY, ARAB TERRORISTS RESUMED THEIR ACTIVITIES IN THE JERUSALEM DISTRICT, AFTER HAVING BEEN MORE OR LESS QUIESCENT SINCE THE END OF THE 1936 ARAB GENERAL STRIKE. THEY ATTACKED THE BETH HAKAREM AND ATAROTS SUBURBS, AND WERE DRIVEN OFF BY SPECIAL POLICEMEN IN AN EXCHANGE OF RIFLE FIRE.
BOMBINGS, SHOOTINGS AND SETTING AFIRE OF TREES WERE REPORTED FROM NABLUS, JENIN AND TULKAREM. THE NABLUS DISTRICT COMMISSIONER ORDERED SIX ARABS OUT OF TOWN FOR INCITEMENT OF VIOLENCE.
MILITARY DETACHMENTS WERE SENT IN PURSUIT OF THE TERRORISTS. POLICE MADE SEVERAL ARRESTS AT AN ARAB VILLAGE NEAR HAIFA, WHERE THEY HAD SEIZED A QUANTITY OF ARMS AFTER A SEARCH. AT HEBRON, SOUTH OF JERUSALEM, THEY WERE INVESTIGATING REPORTED SHOOTINGS.
IN THE CITY OF JERUSALEM ITSELF, POLICE SEARCHED THE OFFICES OF THE WADF (FUND FOR ARAB HOLY PLACES), ARRESTING THERE SUBHI BEY EL KAHADRA, SAFAD ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FUND. THEY DISCONNECTED THE OFFICE’S TELEPHONES.
SEVERAL JEWISH DEMONSTRATORS WERE ALSO DETAILED IN JERUSALEM. SIX MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE REVISIONIST ORGANIZATION WERE ARRESTED FOR POSTING PROCLAMATIONS AGAINST PARTITION, ACTION REGARDED AS A “DEMONSTRATION.” THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER RELEASED THEM ON CONDITION THAT THEY REPORT TO POLICE THREE TIMES DAILY.
ANOTHER REVISIONIST WAS HELD IN £50 (ABOUT $250) BAIL FOR TRIAL ON A SIMILAR CHARGE. THE POSTERS WERE TORN DOWN BY POLICE.
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.
