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4 Killed, Scores Wounded in Arab Terror Outburst; Jerusalem Under Curfew

October 15, 1937
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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THREE PERSONS WERE KILLED AND AN UNASCERTAINED NUMBER INJURED TODAY WHEN A RAILWAY TRAIN WAS MINED AND SHOT UPON NEAR KALKILLIA IN A NEW OUT-BURST OF TERRORISM THAT TOOK A TOLL OF ONE ARAB KILLED AND FIFTEEN JEWS WOUNDED IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

THE TRAIN WAS BLOWN UP ON THE LYDDA-HAIFA LINE. THE DEAD WERE NOT IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIED. (KALKILLIA, SCENE OF SEVERAL TRAIN WRECKS DURING THE 1936 DISORDERS, IS MIDWAY BETWEEN LYDDA AND TULKAREM.)

MOVING SWIFTLY TO COPE WITH THE NEW FLARE-UP OF VIOLENCE THAT RIVALED THE SANGUINARY DAYS OF THE 1936 DISTURBANCES, THE AUTHORITIES CLAMPED DOWN A CURFEW THROUGHOUT JERUSALEM.

THE OUTBURST CLIMAXED A PERIOD OF TENSION AND SPORADIC VIOLENCE LEADING TO ASSASSINATION OF GALILEE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER ANDREWS AND SUBSEQUENT SUPPRESSION OF THE ARAB SUPREME COMMITTEE, DEPOSITION OF HAJ AMINEL HUSSEINI AS PRESIDENT OF THE MOSLEM SUPREME COMMITTEE, AND ARREST AND DEPORTATION OF FIVE PROMINENT ARAB LEADERS INCLUDING DR. HUSSEIN KHALIDI, JERUSALEM’S MAYOR.

AN ARAB PASSENGER WAS KILLED AND EIGHT JEWS WOUNDED WHEN FIVE ARABS AMBUSHED A JEWISH BUS PASSING MOTZA, EIGHT KILOMETERS FROM JERUSALEM, AND AFTER FIRING ON IT FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ROAD THREW A BOMB AT THE BUS.

THREE JEWS WERE WOUNDED WHEN A BOMB WAS THROWN INTO A JEWISH BUS PASSING A HOME FOR THE AGED IN JERUSALEM. THEY WERE REMOVED TO HADASSAH HOSPITAL.

FIFTEEN ARABS ARMED WITH CLUBS AND STONES ATTACKED JEWISH PLOUGHMEN AT TIRATH-ZVI, CLAIMING THE LAND WAS THEIRS. FOUR JEWS WERE INJURED. A SPECIAL POLICEMAN FIRED THREE ROUNDS INTO THE AIR AND WAS DISARMED BY THE ARABS. TEN ARABS WERE LATER ARRESTED AND THE RIFLE WAS RETURNED.

FLAMES LIT UP THE JEZREEL VALLEY SECTION, THE JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY WAS INFORMED BY TELEPHONE FROM BETH ALPHA, AS A HUGE FIRE BROKE OUT AT KAUKAB-EL-HAWA, NEAR THE TRANSJORDAN BORDER OF THE LOWER GALILEE. THE PIPELINES OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY ARE SITUATED IN THE VICINITY.

A DISTRICT OFFICER, MOUSSA KHAMISS, WAS ATTACKED AT NAZARETH BY FOUR ARMED ARABS, WHO ESCAPED AFTER HE FIRED FOUR SHOTS AT THEM.

TROOPS AND POLICE, PRESSING THE DRIVE AGAINST TERRORISTS AND AGITATORS IN PALESTINE, SURROUNDED THE VILLAGE OF TAYIBA NEAR TULKAREM IN A SEARCH FOR ARMS AND TERRORIST SUSPECTS. TWO ARABS ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE WERE CAUGHT BY SOLDIERS. ONE CARRYING A RIFLE WAS WOUNDED. THE AUTHORITIES WARNED THE VILLAGERS AGAINST HARBORING CRIMINALS AND THREATENED TO ESTABLISH A PUNITIVE POLICE POST THERE.

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