Police Superintendent G.D. Sanderson, principal aide of Sir Chares Tegart, special police adviser to the Palestine Government, was killed yesterday when an automobile in which he was riding was ambushed in the “Valley of the Robbers” midway between Jerusalem and Nablus. Sir Charles and Major G. Brunskill, Army General Staff officer, were in the automobile with Sanderson at the time of the attack, but escaped injury.
The car formed part of a convoy accompanying high police and military officers from Haifa to Jerusalem. In the “Valley of the Robbers” the convoy encountered a pile of stones in the road and when Sanderson stepped out to remove them he was instantly killed by a fusillade from the surrounding hills. Troops and airplanes launched a search but failed to contact the band.
The reintensified terrorism ushered in Palestine’s New Year as the Holy Land counted a toll of approximately 2,000 lives and $35,000,000 in direct property damages from disorders in 1938. The toll includes 332 Jews, 59 Britons, 1,500 peaceful Arabs and 3,000 Arab terrorists. Since the terrorism broke out in April, 1936, a total of 456 Jews have been killed and 1,207 wounded. The indirect property toll through the harming of Palestine’s economy is put at many millions. Despite the prevailing conditions, Jews established 16 new colonies and the Jewish National Fund purchased 48,000 dunams of land. Jewish capital inflow was 15 percent higher than in 1937. A total of 13,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine during the year.
Major-General Richard N. O’Conner, military governor of the Jerusalem district, announced that as result of the recrudescence of the murder of Jews by Arabs any attack would immediately bring punishment in the from of 24-hour curfew in Arab quarters of the city, to be announced by three consecutive gunshots. Troop units conducted searches in the Old City behind closed gates.
Meanwhile, Palestine Jewry observed New Year’s day as a day of fast and mourning over the plight of the Jews in Germany. In response to a broadcast appeal by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, Jews wore yellow badges inscribed with the slogan: “The despised are honored.” Proceeds from the sale of the badges will be used to aid German Jews.
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.
