Eighteen members of the Irgun Zvai Laumi, including “three very important persons” were arrested in Rishon L’Zion today, it was announced here. The three are believed to be members of Irgun’s “high command,” the announcement said.
The arrests were made by strong police and military forces in a surprise raid early this morning. Military authorities consider today’s haul the most important since Itzhak Yesternitsky, leader of the Stern group, was picked up during mass searches in Tel Aviv last July.
Henry L. Gurney, Acting High Commissioner, today remitted the sentence of twelve lashes imposed last month by a military court on Aron Cohen, 17-year old boy who was found in possession of a pamphlet bomb. The sentence was confirmed a week ago by Lt. Gen. Sir Evelyn Barker, British commander in Palestine, who, however, remitted a sentence of one month’s imprisonment which had also been imposed.
Jewish leaders in Palestine are anxiously awaiting Barker’s decision in the case of 33-year old Dov Gruner who was sentenced to death by a military court last week on charges of participating in an attack on a police station. Fear is expressed that should Barker confirm the sentence, it will lead to a new wave of terrorism. It is hoped that the commander of the British troops in Palestine will take into account the fact that Gruner served four years in the Allied forces during the war.
DR. SILVER’S APPEAL TO PALESTINE PATRIOTS LEADS TO TRUCE
Meanwhile, it was reported today, though not yet officially confirmed, that the dissident groups have agreed to a truce and have consented to halt their terrorist activities under certain conditions, the major of which is that “no British provocations should be forthcoming.”
At the same time, however, the Irgun today announced in posters in Jerusalem that should the authorities carry out the death sentence against Gruner, the extremists will consider it “an execution of a war prisoner” and will take “retaliatory action.”
The reported truce, it was learned here, is a result of strong efforts by responsible leaders in Palestine, fortified by the appeal which Dr. Abba Hillel Silver made at a mass meeting in Now York Monday evening asking “all patriotio Jews in Palestine,” regardless of their affiliation, to refrain “from acts of desperation,” until the final position of the British Government on abolition of the White Paper and abandonment of the ‘federalization plan’ is determined.”
It was generally expected that the truce would be confirmed tonight over the Irgun underground radio, but no such enfirmation was made. Nevertheless, it is that the dissidents are prepared to halt their activities for some time in order to give the new world Zionist executive an opportunity to examine the political situation and ascertain the attitude of the British Cabinet toward resolutions adopted by the Zionist Congress.
(In London, the Daily Express reported from Washington that Dr. Silver’s appeal was the result of a talk Monday with James F. Byrnes, who yesterday resigned as Secretary of State. The Washington correspondent of the Express says that Byrnes asked Dr. Silver to make such an appeal. This conversation followed Byrnes’ conference with British Ambassador Lord Inverchapel. Later, Dr. Silver met with Inverchapel.)
IRGUN CHIEF APPEALS AGAINST CIVIL WAR; SAYS PARTITION “UNACCEPTABLE”
Despite the reported truce, Menahem Beigin, chief of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, tonight appealed over its secret radio to the Jewish population of Palestine to prevent civil war. He stated that partition is “unacceptable” as a solution of the Palestine problem and carefully refrained from confirming the report of a temporary truce.
Jewish observers interpreted the appeal as not affecting the truce, but as a warning on the later stages of negotiations between Zionist leaders and the British Government. The text of Begin’s broadcast reads as follows:
“The British threats of imposing martial law upon Palestine do not frighten us. There cannot be anything more horrible than the present oppressive military system. If the British invent infernal messures, we, too, will find new ways to hit them. The real danger is threatened by the Jewish Agency which may be caught in the British not by accepting the invitation to attend the London conference with its treacherous partition plan.
“We announce that we shall fight these plans even if the majority of the Jewish Agency regards them as a solution of the Palestine issue. We shall never acquiesce to the partitioning of our homeland. This is not a pathetic declaration but a pronouncement of men who feel that they have a duty not only to their contemporaries, but to the coming generations.” The broadcast concluded with the warning against persons attempting to incite a civil war.
JEWISH LEADERS PRESENT “PEACE TERMS” TO PALESTINE GOVERNMENT
A spokesman for the world Zionist executive today indicated that the talk which David Ramez and Goldie Meirson had yesterday with Gurney was cordial and included a discussion on all aspects of the Palestine situation, and not merely on terrorist activities.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns that in the course of the conference, the Jewish Leaders advanced suggestions for peace in Palestine and terms for joining the London conference. Among the terms presented were: Acceleration of the transfer to Palestine of the Jews detained in Cyprus camps, cessation of deportation of visaless immigrants and withdrawal of the “federalization plan.” They also appealed for commutation of the death sentence hanging over Gruner.
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.
