In the face of warnings from the Palestine government to desist from their propaganda charging the government with arming the Jewish colonists and the police with teaching them to shoot, the Arab extremists have called a conference for tomorrow at the National Arab Club to take action against this alleged arming.
The Arab agitation arises from the fact that the Palestine government, in line with recommendations of Inspector-General Dowbiggin’s report on public security, has given sealed armories to a number of the remote Jewish colonies. British police officers have tested these armories.
When the anti-Jewish agitation in this connection first appeared in the Arabic press, the government issued a statement pointing out that sealed armories had been given to the outlying Jewish colonies. The statement denied that the colonists had been taught to shoot by British police, but said that the police officers had tested the weapons.
This statement failed to end the agitation. Three weeks ago Arab leaders held a meeting at Tulkarem where the matter was discussed and a resolution adopted protesting against granting sealed armories to the Jewish colonists. A call was also issued for an all-Palestinian conference to take steps in this connection. Members of the Arab Executive were the chief speakers at this meeting.
When the Arab papers, especially Aljamea al Arabia, the Grand Mufti’s organ, persisted in their campaign of incitement against the Jews, Sir Mark Aitchinson Young, chief secretary of the Palestine government, sent a warning to the paper to discontinue its agitation. In his warning, Sir Mark emphasized that similar propaganda was responsible for the riots of 1929.
The Arab papers, however, have not heeded this warning. Arab Extremists have been addressing meetings at which they have declared that protests alone are ineffective and called for action. “Your land, your lives and your porperty are in danger,” one speaker warned, “and if we do not awaken to the danger we will be slaughtered by Jewish weapons which are being kept in the colonies.”
The Jewish press, on the other hand, has pointed to the large number of Arabs who have recently been arrested for possessing and carrying arms.
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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.
