Jew Clashes in Jerusalem; Jewish Agency Reiterates Charge Britons Involved in Bombing

Jerusalem once again became the chief battlefield in Palestine today as Arabs and Jews continued to clash and both forces kept the British troops on the alert with scattered attacks on them. At the same time, the repercussions of Sunday morning’s bombings were still being felt in official circles and in Jewish quarters.

Six Arabs were killed and several Arabs and Jews were wounded in a series of attacks on vehicles launched by bomb and machinegun attack by Arabs on a Jewish armored bus. While only owe Jew was hurt, Haganah convoy guards opened fire on the attackers and killed four. Later, in reprisal, the Jews attacked three Arab vehicles and killed two more Arabs.

The British were brought under fire by Jews using three-inch mortars, but casualties were slight in this encounter. However, four soldiers were wounded in another clash with Arabs in the Sheikh Jarrach quarter of the city.

Last night a strong Arab force attacked the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital located on semi-isolated Mt. Scopus. Bullets went through the walks of the Jewish institutions, but injuries were relatively low and finally the defenders, reinforced by British troops, forced the Arabs to decamp. But the raiders blew up a road bridge between the city and Mt. Scopus and succeeded in isolating the Jews on the heights. Since the same road is used by traffic to the Mount of Olives where the Jewish cemetery is located, the dead cannot be buried immediately.

The Jewish Agency today publicly accepted the challenge of Colonial Under Secretary David Rees-Williams to prove that Britons were involved in the Sunday bombing, in which 53 persons died, according to the latest casualty figures. While the Agency revealed that its independent investigation of the incident was nearly completed, the British Criminal Investigation Department is still checking the scene of the blast. The police authorities have announced that they have accounted for the actions of all police armored car crews Sunday morning except for several units stationed in the Gaza region.

An Agency spokesman said that the facts of the bombing, plus the immediate repercussions in Jerusalem including the searches for arms in Jewish quarters which continued today, was in the hands of its representative at Lake Success and would be released at the proper time. Replying to an assertion by an Arab band leader who claimed credit for the outrage, both the Agency and the Haganah reiterated that they were certain that British personnel had participated in the deed.

Pro-fascist deserters from the Palestine police force, using forged documents, have infiltrated the police guard at the internment camp for Palestinian Jews at Gilgil, Kenya where they have succeeded in inciting both the British and native police against the detainees, it was revealed today at a press conference in Tel Aviv by Dr. L.I. Rabinowitz, chief rabbi of Johannesburg, South Africa, who has just arrived here by way of Kenya. He said the fascists were former members of the Farran gang of Palestine policemen.