Further details of the Palestine disturbances following announcement of the land act, in which nearly 400 Jews were wounded, two of them fatally, were released today by the Palestine censor.
The delayed reports reveal that police and demonstrating crowds clashed on more than a score of occasions between Feb. 29, the day on which the ordinance was published, and March 6, when it was debated in the House of Commons.
The police were frequently forced fire volleys into the air and repeatedly charged the crowds with batons. Tear gas was used on one occasion in dispersing demonstrators in Haifa. Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem were several times placed under rigid curfew.
The long list of Jewish casualties included Left Poale-Zion leader Zerubavel and Secretary Lipshitz of the Tel Aviv Labor Council, both of whom were injured in the Tel Aviv demonstrations on March 2. In addition to the more than 100 arrests, several hundred curfew violators were banished for six months to the Nazareth sub-district. Among those arrested was Elisheba, Russian-born Hebrew poetess.
The reports further disclose that all sections of the Jewish community expressed solidarity with the Jewish Agency in its protest against the ordinance. Scores of resolutions were adopted and many protests were cabled to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
The American Consul received a delegation of Hebrew University students who appealed to President Roosevelt and the democracies to support the struggle for abolition of the injustice.
The ordinance had a mixed reception in Arab circles, where it was doubted that the political benefits would compensate for the economic losses to the Arabs.
A report from Amman, Transjordan, said that two delegates of notables appealed to the Emir Abdullah to intercede for repeal of the act.
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.
