The trial of five Jewish settlers from the Hulda colony who are charged with illegal possession of arms and munitions concluded today. The prosecutor demanded that all five be convicted, but emphasized that “the tragic experiences in Hulda,” which has been destroyed by Arabs twice since 1929, “may result in milder punishment for the guilty.”
Two other settlers, Jacob Galata and Jacob Hass, who pleaded guilty at the opening of the trial, today read a declaration in court stating that it was they who brought the arms in question to Hulda without the knowledge of any other settlers and that they alone knew the whereabouts of the arms. They explained that they are members of Hulda’s security committee and were responsible for the defense of the settlement.
The defense attorney, David Goiten, pleading for acquittal of all the colonists, argued that the arms which the police discovered in Hulda were not intended for attack, but solely for defense. He pointed out that when people like Sir Ronald Storrs, former Jerusalem District Commissioner, publish alarming articles predicting anti-Jewish disturbances in Palestine, it is to be expected that a settlement like Hulda, which suffered so much from previous Arab disturbances, should fear forth-coming riots, especially since it is surrounded by Arab villages and cannot even communicate by telephone with other sections of the country.
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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.
