Accentuating the fears being felt by the Jewish population of Palestine that Arabs are plotting to use their forbidden activities in hunting for illegal immigrants as a starting point for renewed riots with Jews as the victims, was an article in today’s issue of Falastin, Arabic daily newspaper.
The newspaper announced that a committee of Arab self-appointed coast guards would hold a conference in Jaffa tomorrow at which further mobilization of coastwise patrols would be discussed. Particular attention will be placed on the problem of patrolling Nathania, according to the newspaper, where recently a band of Arab youths garbed as boy scouts were attacked by young Jews who resented their activities in attempting to aid the government’s war on illegal immigration.
As a direct result of this fracas, during which one young Arab was wounded, High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope issued a statement forbidding use of unauthorized agents in tracking down immigrants who had no proper passports.
The continued participation of Arabs in guarding the coastline is in open defiance of the edict and has given rise to considerable alarm in Jewish quarters that the Arabs were planning to launch a new onslaught against the Jews as bloody as that perpetrated five years ago. This suspicion was openly voiced yesterday by Haaretz, outstanding Hebrew daily, in a strong editorial in which it declared that Arab jealousy, coupled with annoyance at the great strides toward prosperity which Jewish settlers have made recently, is behind the suspected plot.
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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.