Preparations were in full swing today to discontinue tomorrow municipal services, including water and electricity, in eight Arab municipalities, according to a statement by the mayors of Jaffa, Hebron and Ramleh to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Arab mayors delayed the opening of the strike until tomorrow because of a conference today on its details.
Strikes are scheduled in Acre, Jaffa, Nablus, Tulkarem, Hebron, Ramleh, Bethlehem and Lydda. Ten more mayors, including Hussein el Khalidi of Jerusalem, threatened to strike if the Government did not yield to demands for restrictions on Jews within ten days.
A meeting of Arab policemen in Jerusalem decided to join the strike if the Government did not grant them equal privileges with British soldiers and if it sent them into Jewish quarters or Jewish policemen into Arab quarters.
Leaflets were issued in Hebrew urging Jewish workers to support the Arab strike “against imperialism and Zionism.”
The Hebrew daily, Doar Hayom, reported that Arab strikers received £12,000 (about $60,000) from Egypt which had been collected originally for Ethiopia and was transferred to Palestine last week since relief is no longer needed in Ethiopia.
Where Arab funds to keep the general strike and other anti-Jewish as well as anti-Government activities going are emanating is still puzzling the authorities.
Figures reported today for the first time reveal that 10,000 Arabs are being supported with cash and food from the strike fund in Jaffa, while 8,000 are being maintained in Jerusalem and other places.
It is estimated that $1,000 is being spent daily in Jerusalem alone to support the strikers.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
