British Troops Kill 3 Arabs; Strike Seen Subsiding

At least three Arabs were killed and a British corporal and a Jew wounded in scattered engagements today as disorders against the Government and the Jews continued in their tenth week.

Launching of a new leaflet campaign by the Arab Strike Committee for continuation of the general strike was taken as indication the strike was weakening.

Six Arabs were sentenced to terms ranging from one to six years at hard labor in District Court of Jaffa today for participating in recent disturbances. Randolph Copland, president of the court, meted out a five-year sentence to one Arab for setting fire to a Jewish house. The other five drew one to two year sentences for plundering Jewish stores and houses.

Two Arabs were killed and three wounded at Diraban when the villagers resisted a search of their homes by troops. The Government forces suffered no casualties.

Another Arab was killed at Beth Alpha in the Jezreel Valley when a military patrol replied to snipers’ rifle fire.

An unascertained number of Arabs fell in brushes with a military detachment in a lorry at Safed, at Kinereth and later near Tulkarem.

An official communique said a convoy of the Palestine Potash Co. was fired on between Jericho and Jerusalem. Police, reinforced by troops, returned the fire. There were no casualties among the passengers or guards.

A British corporal was slightly wounded when Arabs fired at a military patrol near Segera.

Shots were fired during the night at Mekor Haim and Neveh Jacob. A Jew was slightly injured.

Troops searching the village of Balah near Anebta demolished three houses in which they discovered ammunition. Crops were seized as security for a collective fine. Nine Arabs were arrested and twelve others detained for an inquiry.

Two Arabs were arrested in Haifa for concealing a bomb, automatic revolver and bullets in their homes.

A railway between Rafa and Khanyunis was damaged. Telephone wires were cut and repair men called to restore the lines were fired on.

Unsuccessful attempts were made to damage a railway line at Ras-el-Ain, Kalkillia and near Ramleh. Shooting was reported near Lydda and Latrun. Three bombs were thrown at Beersheba. Another exploded at Gaza, causing no damage.

Falastin, Arab Christian daily, reported that in addition to 98 houses demolished in the Old City quarter of Jaffa for construction of roads to the harbor, the Government was intending to raze 150 more shortly, adding that an official announcement was on its way which would order evacuation from the condemned houses within ten days.

Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, British High Commissioner, flew to Afuleh in the Jezreel Valley, where representatives of the Jewish colonies in the valley asked the transfer of Government offices from the Arab city of Nazareth to Afuleh, construction of a paved road from Ganigar to Nahalal and compensation for the sufferers from recent disturbances.

Sir Arthur stated that the Government had approved appointment of additional Jewish special policemen and expressed regret at property losses.

The Sharon Plain correspondent of Haboker, Hebrew daily, reported the movement of suspicious Arab bands forty to fifty strong in the vicinity of Tel Mond. An Arab watchman who saw them said they were khaki uniforms and told him they were from the Nablus and Jenin hills en route to Wadi Falk. The correspondent suggests that they are remnants of rebel bands smashed by troops.

Arabs set fire today to a stone-crushing machine in a Jewish-owned quarry in Jerusalem. A bomb was thrown into a Jewish chauffeur’s room opposite a Jewish home for the aged in the Pomema quarter of Jerusalem, but injured no one.

Bus transportation between Tel Aviv and the Judea colonies was restricted today to five trips daily. The Government assigned only five convoys to the route.