British police and military raiding squads swept through Palestine today, arresting hundreds of Jews, in what was apparently the “second phase” of operations which began on June 29.
Preliminary reports said that about 1,000 persons were arrested, although an official communique issued this afternoon said that “376 suspected terrorists” had been seized, including men and women who had been under police supervision.
More than 500 persons were detained in Tel Aviv and the vicinity in raids that began before dawn. Many were arrested in Jerusalem when troops cordoned off the main streets and searched and questioned passersby.
In Haifa, about 50 men and women who had been released from internment camps in Eritrea earlier this year were re-arrested and sent to Latrun prison. Former Eritrean internees were seized in other parts of the country, as were Jews who had been released from Latrun several months ago. They were either arrested by patrols which came to their homes, or when they reported to police stations.
ARABS DEMONSTRATE IN PROTEST AGAINST “KING DAVID” BOMBING
While the raids were in progress, Arabs in Jerusalem, Jaffa and other cities and towns demonstrated to protest the King David Hotel bombing. In Jaffa a nationwide conference of the “Alnajada,” the Arab Boy Scout organization, met in Jaffa and was addressed by Jamal Husseini, vice-chairman of the Arab Higher Committee. Later the young Arabs paraded through the streets of the city.
According to reliable sources, Husseini hopes to convert the “Alnajada” into the Arab equivalent of the “Palmach,” the Haganah’s shook troops.
The Higher Committee announced tonight that it has cabled to the Arab delegation now in Rome, asking it to seek the Pope’s intervention “to put an end to the crimes which the Jews commit against the government, in order to save the lives of Arabs and the holy places.”
The entire Hebrew press joins today in criticizing the newspaper Haaretz for its demand earlier in the week that the executives of the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Council resign. The papers state that although the government has not succeeded in setting up a quisling Agency, Haaretz is coming to the aid of the authorities.
The Agency has, perhaps, never found such wide support among all sections of Palestine Jews as at the moment, but, nevertheless, responsible circles feel that the forthcoming Paris conference of Agency leaders must take steps to reorganize the Agency’s machinery, which has been badly disrupted by the continued detention of three of the body’s key officials. There is also considerable sentiment here for convocation of a World Zionist Congress as soon as possible.
With the finding of four more bodies in the ruins, the King David death toll reached 70 today. Searchers were forced to don masks, because of the overpowering stench which rose from the rubble. One of the bodies found today was that of Julius Jacobs, a British Jew, who was Under-Secretary for Finance.
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.
