Arab terrorists in Palestine have outfitted themselves so completely with stolen or counterfeit police uniforms and equipment that the Palestine government admits today that it has become almost impossible to distinguish them from the police.
The terrorist bands usually operate dressed in the voluminous garb of peasants, in which even a rifle can be concealed. However, from time to time they appear as uniformed “armies” in the garb of police or supernumerary police, either for purposes of deceit or for Sheer Bravado.
This happened so frequently of late that travelers stopped on the highways by uniformed men cannot be sure whether they are being halted by officers of the law or its foes.
The government attempted to get around this by having policemen in rural districts wear white armbands around their right arms. A device which was immediately copied by the terrorists. The police have now added red armbands around their left arms, but it is hardly likely the guerrilla bands will fail to do likewise.
Most of the regular police uniforms have been acquired by the terrorists in raids on outlying police posts manned by a few Arab policemen. The Arab bands have been signally successful in this type of raid, often making off with uniforms and sometimes police rifles and ammunition without a shot being fired on either sides. Supernumerary police uniforms have been similarly stolen, and a large number of imitation ones have been manufactured.
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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.
