Jewish Agency Refutes High Commissioner’s Charge It Refusing to Help Curb Terrorism

A sharp rejoinder to High Commissioner Sir Alan G. Cunningham’s charge that Jewish leaders in Palestine have refused to cooperate with the authorities against terrorism and have thus, implicity, supported the extremists, was given today by a Jewish Agency spokesman, who said that terrorism was the fault of Britain’s repressive policy of arrests and deportations “and such speeches as Bevin’s.” (At the British Labor Party convention at Margate last week, Foreign Minister Bevin described the basic problem in Palestine as a reflection of a Jewish-Gentile war.)

The Agency’s view, the spokesman added, is that the political lawlessness of the government encourages terrorism. He said that the bulk of the Jewish community is opposed to terrorism and has openly and clearly disavowed it. The extent of Jewish cooperation can be gathered from police records, he continued. The Yishuv has also attempted to out off the supply of funds to the terrorists and to prevent Jewish lands from being used as bases for extremist operations. He dismissed as “pure propaganda,” the High Commissioner’s charge that the Jews have not cooperated.

While it is true that it is the duty of citizens everywhere to assist the authorities in curbing crime, the situation changes when the breaches are political crimes, the spokesman stressed. “Here there are two hatreds: against British policy, and against terrorism, but the first is stronger.” The impression that terrorism can be eradicated by police methods is fallacious, he declared. Only increased immigration and a return to political normality will eradicate the cause of violence, he said.

HIGH COMMISSIONER SAYS DETAINCES SHOULD BE CONFINED OUTSIDE OF PALESTINE

The Cunningham statement was contained in an 8,000-word report to the Colonial Office on the Acre Prison break on May 4, during which more than 200 prisoners were liberated. The High Commissioner said that if the military forces were allowed to use their full strength against the whole Jewish community, they could wipe out terrorist activity in a few hours. He added, however, that the government has never contemplated such action, nor has the army desired it. He said that no other troops in the world would have exercised the restraint shown by British soldiers in Palestine in the face of continued provocation.

Asserting that the success of the Acve jail delivery was not due to a failure of the security system, but because the building had never been intended for use as a prison, Cunningham suggested that all political detainees be confined outside of the country. He attributed the success this and similar attacks to the fact that the extremists had in their ranks persons experienced in guerrilla warfare in Europe and the fact that because of the refusal of the Jewish community to cooperate, the terrorists could lose themselves in the general population and emerge for attacks at strategic times.