The backbone of Arab rebel resistance in Palestine was believed smashed today with the surrender of Aaref Abdul Razek, leader of the rebel forces, to the French military authorities in Syria. Abdul Razek, whose bands had been under increasing pressure by the British forces and police, fled across the Palestine-Syrian frontier with a bodyguard of 16 bandsmen. He and his followers were placed under “forcible restraint” at Palmyra.
(Authorities in Damascus indicated that with the exception of his internment at Palmyra, no further action would be taken against Abdul Razek at this time, according to the Havas News Agency. He crossed the border near the village of Attik, east of Lake Tiberias, to escape a large British military force which had been on his heels for the past week. Authorities said the rebel chieftain had not eaten for three days, so close was the pursuit.)
The terrorist chieftain was the sole remaining commander in Palestine, his coleader, Abdul Rahim el Haj Mohammed, having been killed by troops when trapped in a village near Nablus late last month. The British War Office, in a communique early this year, had described Abdul Razek as a man of “utter ruthlessness” who served rebel leaders outside Palestine as “their principal agent for maintaining a terrorist grip on the Arab population.” He was said to have enjoyed the complete confidence of the exiled ex-Mufti of Palestine, who directed the terrorist campaign from his refuge in Lebanon.
A Jew named Nissim Mizrachi, 32, was shot and seriously wounded last night near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.
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