The Arab scout who was wounded at Nathania on Thursday when a clash took place between Jewish colonists and Arabs dressed as scouts who passed through the village on the way to seashore to prevent Jewish immigrants from entering the country illegally, is recovering, it was learned today. His condition was originally reported as serious. London newspapers had reported his death.
Infuriated Jews of the colony fell upon the Arabs, who were voluntarily serving with other Arabs as guards to prevent Jews from entering Palestine illegally and to turn over to the police those who succeeded in getting into the country.
A temporary police post set up by detachments of police sped to the scene and arrested four settlers yesterday in connection with the attack, but their release was expected momentarily today after the Arabs had failed to identify them.
Fears that the disorders would spread were allayed when Tulkarm, Nablus and Jaffa yesterday failed to echo with new clashes and the rest of the countryside reported all quiet.
ISSUE IS SORE SPOT
Al Falastin, Arab nationalist daily, dissatisfied with the promises of the government that illegal immigration into the country would be suppressed, protested that this had been promised many times in the past. The only effective measure, it declared, would be the complete stoppage of all Jewish immigration.
The question of illegal immigration has been one of the sore spots in the administration of Palestine. A major problem because of the large number of Jews desirous of entering the country and the difficulties in entering legally, it is fought not only by the government and by Arabs opposed to all Jewish settlement in the country, but also by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, which distributes the immigration certificates allotted to Jews by the government.
The Jewish Agency is attempting to select immigrants on the basis of their capabilities and adaptability to the immediate needs of the country. Illegal entry by Jews not only deprives the Agency of the opportunity to do so but also limits the number of certificates available to it since the government has made a practice of limiting the number granted to a figure lower than it would otherwise give because of the number of illegal entrants.
MEASURES PROMISED
Recently the country has been agitated by the practice of Arabs in acting as scouts for the police in detaining Jews whom they suspected of being illegally in the country, and resentment at the practice has resulted in a score of minor clashes. The Arabs recently recruited Bedouin tribesmen as a volunteer frontier force to watch for would-be settlers seeking to enter the country over its land borders.
In an official communique this week, High Commissioner Wauchope, while promising that measures would be taken to prevent illegal immigration, scored the volunteer activities of the Arabs which, he said, embarrassed the authorities and tended to promote breaches of the peace. He warned that unless these ceased, the persons responsible would be liable to prosecution under the criminal code.
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