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Palestine Police Set for Riots, Feared As Report Climax

June 30, 1937
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Police were ordered today to stand by to avert possible disorders as the date of publication of the Royal Commission’s report on Palestine approached.

British embassies in Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have already received copies of the report, it was learned, accompanied by detailed maps explaining the recommendations.

The Palestine Government has received a secret letter from the Colonial Office in London, it was reported, containing outlines of the policy laid down in the commission’s findings and measures for maintaining order after the report is published.

Rumors that a campaign of terrorism in the Holy Land would follow publication of the report were climaxed today by receipt of letters from an Arab “Black-Hand” organization threatening the lives of Government officials if the plan to partition Palestine is accepted.

The letters were received by the Southern District Commissioner, the Police Inspector for the Southern District, and also by Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein, Arab ruler of Transjordan, whose name has been mentioned as possible king of an Arab state if Palestine is divided.

The letter to the Emir warned him not to accept the partition of Palestine if proposed.

The “Black-Hand” organization was believed to be a new one. Another “Black-Hand” organization was suppressed when police raided a meeting of its leaders in Haifa last Sunday.

Meanwhile, Fawzi Bey el Kaukaji, Syrian terrorist leader who was termed “Public Enemy No. 1” during the Palestine disturbances of 1936 because of his activities in the Holy Land, was reported by Arab newspapers to have been released from a Syrian prison under a French Government amnesty.

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