American Jews in Palestine Not Drafted into Jewish Defense; They May Join Voluntarily

Jewish defense officials have not conscripted American veterans studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the G.I. Bill Rights for service in the Haganah, but the Americans are permitted to join if ?y choose, a Jewish Agency spokesman declared today at a press conference. The station arose in reference to the death in action last week of Moshe Perlstein, an American student-veteran at the University, who joined the Haganah.

The funeral of Perlstein and the other 34 Haganah members killed in an Arab bush on route to the relief of surrounded Kfar Etzion settlers was held in Kfar ?ion today. Preparations for a cortege to leave Jerusalem for the settlement in ? Hebron Hills were carried out with secrecy and dispatch. Only one member of ? family of each of the fallen men was permitted to go and several members of the agency executive were included in the party which was taken to Kfar Etzion in armored ?y trucks and armored police cars.

Along the route to the settlement the convoy was forced to halt several ?mes for British troops to clear away Arab roadblocks and the members of the party ?w a number of unoccupied snipers’ posts. Less than a mile from the settlement, ?e convoy was met by an honor guard of Haganah troops and settlers. The British ?oope deployed themselves about the cemetery to prevent the Arabs from launching ?y attacks which would interfere with the burial services A Jewish plane circled ?erhead while a Haganah unit fired a three-volley salute over the graves.

Most of the corpses were horribly mutilated, one of the witnesses later hold the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and only four man could actually be identified. number were decapitated.

ONE JEW KILLED, SEVERAL WOUNDED IN HAIFA; ATTACK REPULSED IN SAFAD AREA

One Jew was killed and several injured in a flare-up of violence in Haifa ?en Arab laborers attacked Jews after a Jewish tractor driver had accidentally run ?wn and injured an Arab. British troops took over control of the docks after the ?ot. At the Consolidated Oil Refineries, where 41 Jews were lynched several weeks ?, Arabs refused to work today if three busloads of Jewish workers were permitted enter the plant grounds. Since the company serves the local trade, there is now shortage of oil in Haifa, terminus for several major oil lines, because no work ?s been done since the riot.

One Arab was killed when Jewish settlers at Shaar Yashub, in the Safad district, fought off an attack by a band of guerrillas. Three more Arabs were killed ?ar Sarafand when Jews in a truck threw hand grenades and raked with semi-automatic ?re a group of Arabs standing near a village. Later the car was found burned out ?d with bullet holes in the body. There was no trace of the occupants.

Three cars full of Jews, reportedly Irgunists, tonight held up the government survey office in Jerusalem, disarmed a number of Jewish policemen and made off with ?ll the documents in the office. Karlier in the day the Haganah foiled another attempt to steal the documents.

It was officially reported that an Arab house between Ramleh and Beth Dajan ?as blown up last night without casualties. The Arab village of Samra, near Acre. ?as sported to have been attacked by a strong band of 200 unidentified men, who killed and wounding three others.

Four young Jews, three boys and a girl, were today sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of illegally possessing weapons and training with the Stern Group. The youths, all under 17 years of age were captured in a house near Banana by a large unit of British troops who killed five other trainees.