FOUR JEWISH COLONISTS AND THEIR JEWISH ARMED GUARD WERE KILLED BY AN ARAB BAND EARLY THIS MORNING WHILE ON THEIR WAY TO WORK IN THE FIELDS OF THE NEARBY SETTLEMENT OF KIRIAT ANAVIM IN THE MOST SANGUINARY ATTACK SINCE THE 1936 DISORDERS.
THE BRITISH ADMINISTRATION IMMEDIATELY RUSHED PLANES AND POLICE TO THE SPOT, WHICH ENGAGED THE BAND IN THE SURROUNDING HILLS AND WERE BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED ONE ARAB. BLOODHOUNDS FOLLOWED THE TRAIL TO THE ARAB VILLAGE OF YALU WHERE THREE ARABS WERE ARRESTED AFTER CARTRIDGES OF THE SAME CALIBER AS THE MURDER BULLETS WERE FOUND.
PLANES HUNTING THE MURDERERS WERE HOVERING OVERHEAD AS A MILE-LONG FUNERAL PROCESSION WENDED THIS AFTERNOON FROM JERUSALEM NINE MILES WESTWARD TO KIRIAT ANAVIM, STOPPING AT EVERY SETTLEMENT ON THE WAY TO RECEIVE THE SALUTE OF THE GHAFFIRS (SPECIAL GUARDS). THIRTY THOUSAND PERSONS LINED THE ROUTE OF THE MARCH TO JERUSALEM’S CITY LIMITS.
THE DEAD WERE ITZAK MIGDAL, THE GUARD, JOSHUA PUCHOVSKY, MOSHE BARGIORA, ARIEH MORDUCHOVITZ AND AARON OLESHEVSKY. THE COLONISTS, ALL IN THEIR TWENTIES, WERE MEMBERS OF A WORKERS’ COMMUNAL GROUP KNOWN AS KVUTZATH-BAMAALEH, WORKING ON JEWISH NATIONAL FUND LAND A FEW MILES NORTH OF KIRIAT ANAVIM.
THE SETTLERS WERE AMBUSHED ON THE WAY TO WORK. THE GUARD WAS THE FIRST TO FALL IN THE FUSILLADE. TWO SURVIVORS OF THE HALF OF SHOTS WERE BAYONETED. ALL THE SHOTS WERE APPARENTLY FIRED AT CLOSE RANGE.
A SECOND PARTY OF THE SAME GROUP, WORKING A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY, HEARD THE SHOTS AND RUSHED TOWARD THE SPOT. AN ARAB THEY MET ON THE WAY EXPLAINED THE NOISE WAS MERELY EXPLOSIONS IN NEARBY QUARRIES AND THEN DISAPPEARED.
MIGDAL IS SURVIVED BY A WIFE AND SMALL DAUGHTER. THE OTHER VICTIMS WERE ALL IMMIGRANTS FROM POLAND. THE NEAREST POLICE POST IS FIVE MILES FROM THE SCENE OF THE AMBUSCADE, AT ABU GOSH.
ARMS FOR DEFENSE DEMANDED IN EULOGIES
JEWISH LEADERS, IN PASSIONATE ORATIONS BEFORE A THRONG OF 2,000 SETTLERS GATHERED AT THE KIRIAT ANAVIM CEMETERY, DEMANDED THAT THE GOVERNMENT ARM JEWISH COLONISTS FOR SELF-DEFENSE. SPEAKERS INCLUDED ISAAC BEN-ZVI, PRESIDENT OF THE JEWISH NATIONAL COUNCIL; ISRAEL MEREMINSKY, ZIONIST LABOR LEADER, AND RABBI MOSHE BLAU.
THE CEREMONY CONTINUED AFTER DARK UNDER LANTERN LIGHT. THE SHROUDED BODIES WERE LOWERED INTO THE GRAVES FROM THE SHOULDERS OF THE SLAIN COLONISTS’ COMRADES. THE SETTLERS’ FELLOWS JOINED IN THE EULOGIES.
A DISPLAY OF EMOTION UNPRECEDENTED IN RECENT PALESTINE HISTORY MARKED THE SERVICES IN JERUSALEM, WHERE A CROWD OF 12,000 HEARD MOSHE SHERTOK, HEAD OF THE JEWISH AGENCY’S POLITICAL DEPARTMENT, AND CHIEF RABBI ISAAC HERTZOG, DELIVER EULOGIES. ALL MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH AGENCY EXECUTIVE AND REPRESENTATIVES OF CENTRAL JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATED IN THE SERVICES.
MR. SHERTOK DEMANDED ARMING OF JEWISH WORKERS AND STRINGENT ACTION TO UPROOT TERRORISM, BUT PROMISED THAT JEWISH COLONIZATION WORK WOULD CONTINUE PEACEFULLY.
“THE INNOCENT VICTIMS FELL WHILE WORKING THE SOIL WHICH HAD BEEN DESERTED FOR MILLENNIUMS,” HE DECLARED, “BUT THIS WILL NOT HAMPER OUR RETURN TO THE HOMELAND. WE DEMAND OF THE AUTHORITIES THAT THEY UPROOT THE TERRORISTS WITH AN IRON HAND, AND WE DEMAND ARMS FOR THE JEWISH WORKING COMMUNITY FOR SELF-DEFENSE. OUR REPRISAL WILL BE INTENSIVE CONTINUATION OF OUR PEACEFUL WORK.”
THE JEWISH NATIONAL COUNCIL PROCLAIMED A STOPPAGE OF WORK DURING THE FUNERAL.
MEANWHILE, THE ACTIVITIES OF PALESTINE ARAB LEADERS WHO HAVE ESCAPED TO SYRIA WERE DISCUSSED AT A FOUR-HOUR CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE BRITISH CONSUL AT BEIRUT AND ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER WILLIAM D. BATTERSHILL.
FIRE OF UNDETERMINED ORIGIN DESTROYED A BLOCK OF SHOPS IN TEL AVIV, CAUSING DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT $50,000.
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.
