7 Jews Killed in Arab Ambush; 9 Arabs Slain

Five Jewish special policemen and two Jewish foremen of the Rutenberg Electric Co. were killed, it was announced today, when a band of 100 Arabs attacked a party of Rutenberg workers guarded by police at Jisra Masmieh, in southern Palestine. Reinforcements engaged the band, killing three.

The attack climaxed a weekend of disorders in which six other Arabs and a British policeman were killed and several Arabs and Jews were injured as terrorists wielded gun, bomb and incendiary torch in their campaign against British rule and the Jewish homeland.

Three of the special policemen (Ghaffir) were killed and another was wounded in the ambuscade. Jewish Ghaffir rushed to the spot from Rehoboth and engaged the band. They found a fourth policeman dead. A fifth Ghaffir and the two foremen were missing, but later were found slain.

Funeral services for the last three were held today in Tel Aviv. Thousands attended the funeral, including mayor Israel Rokach and Government representatives.

The casualty list follows:

THE DEAD. FOREMEN

ROMAN CZEP, 38, son of a Czechoslovakian Christian clergyman, who adopted Judaism in 1934;

DAVID BEN-ELIAHU, 25

GHAFFIRS

Arieh Hecht, 22, immigrated from Lwow, Poland, eight months ago; Dov Klein, 28, immigrated from Tarnapol, Poland, six months ago; Dov Minzer, 23, of Poland;

NAPHTALI REICH, 28, immigrated from Lwow.

WALFISH, 25, of Poland, first reported missing, but later found dead.

INJURED

Zvi Diamant, 25.

Four Arabs were killed and three others were wounded when troops fired on a mob of Arabs stoning firemen who were attempting to extinguish an incendiary blaze in a synagogue in the border section between Jaffa and Tel Aviv. A British officer was also wounded in the clash.

The Arab crowds prevented the firemen from working, and troops were called to protect them. The soldiers first fired into the air, but the crowds again attacked the firemen, whereupon the troops fired into the mob. It was the second synagogue to be set afire in the quarter within 24 hours, the first breaking out on Friday night shortly after Sabbath services. At that time firemen were shot at while fighting the flames, but there were no casualties.

The campaign of incendiarism also took a heavy toll in other localities. The Ein Harod railway station and post office were burned down. The Artuf railway station between Jerusalem and Ramleh was put to the torch.

A police patrol, ambushed between Hebron and Beit Jibrin, replied, killing one Arab and capturing another wounded. An Arab band entered an Arab village near Nazareth, seriously wounding the Mukhtar (local chieftain) and his son and killing his daughter. Villagers attacked the band, killing two of its members.

Several Arabs were injured when police dispersed an Arab crowd demonstrating in Jerusalem’s Old City quarter against police searches. All shops in the section were closed. The Old City was practically isolated as police closed the Damascus Gate, entrance to the quarter, because Arabs were trying to stage demonstrations. Troops and police dispersed all crowds.

Arabs in Haifa launched a strike in protest against the closing of some streets for reasons of security, but no incidents were reported there. It was officially announced that the road through southern Palestine is impassable because of terrorist barricades and the destruction of a bridge.

The authorities accelerated mobilization of many Jewish Ghaffir to cope with continuing disorders and at the same time began disarming of Arab supernumerary forces.

A British policeman was killed and a group of Government buildings destroyed by fire Friday night during an Arab raid on the southern city of Beersheba. The raiders cut communications between the city and the rest of Palestine and stole quantities of arms and ammunition from the police station.

Erection of a barbed wire fence separating Jaffa from all Tel Aviv was completed Friday. Thirty wooden tenement houses in the Jewish Shechunat Brenner quarter of the boundary area were slated for demolition. The tenants will be evacuated to Tel Aviv. Two Jewish passengers in a bus were wounded when Arabs stoned cars passing through Ramleh.