Palestine Remains Tense As Govt. Says “first Phase” Over; Weizmann Threatens to Resign

Tension in Palestine remained at fever pitch today as what an official communique described as “the first phase of operations to restore law and order in Palestine” neared completion. Searches were still continuing in several outlying colonies, but no mass arrests or raids, such as those made yesterday, were reported.

Although all reports from raided settlements are not yet in, since the country’s communications were disrupted by the military authorities to facilitate their operations, the death toll at the moment is five Jews and one Briton, with about 2,000 Jews, including ranking members of the Jewish Agency executive under arrest.

It was learned this afternoon that Dr. Chaim Weizmann during discussions with High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham yesterday threatened to resign if the arrested members of the Jewish Agency are not released immediately.

Cunningham is said to have replied: “But you can choose other colleagues and advisers, for instance Mayor Rokach.” To this Weizmann retorted: “Then I must decline any responsibility, because this suggestion only aggravates the situation.”

(A dispatch received tonight from a JTA correspondent in London quoted a well-informed Palestine source as declaring that British strategy in Palestine is aimed at splitting the Jewish Agency by creating differences between the so-called left and right wing factions. This source pointed out that all of those arrested are either laborites or pro-labor. He cited Cunningham’s suggestion to Weizmann as an example of these “futile” tactics.)

JEWISH AGENCY SUBSTITUTE “SHADOW COMMANDS” TAKE OVER

It was pointed out here today that the second, third and fourth “shadow commands” of the Agency are already operating, so that arrest of the Agency leaders will not paralyze Jewish activities.

The stunned Jewish community, which was taken by surprise by the vastness of yesterday’s operations, despite the fact that they had been predicted almost exactly in a broadcast over the secret Naganah radio, “Voice of Israel,” on June 16 began to rally its forces today.

The Haganah radio declared tonight that “Britain has declared war upon the Jewish community and we will return it.” An earlier broadcast by the “Voice of Israel” was unintelligible as a result of jamming by government stations.

TROOPS AND JEWS CLASH IN HAIFA; CURFEW REIMPOSED

In Haifa, where the curfew was lifted early today, it was reimposed at 7 p.m. after thousands of Jews who thronged the Jewish quarter of the city to protest the seizure of the Jewish Agency headquarters

Crack machine gun crews were still deployed around the Agency building in Jerusalem covering every approach. Other troops were stationed inside. Near the building the authorities have set up a command post which is directing all operations in this city.

A special plenary session of the Jewish National Council has been called for tomorrow morning. This morning, the Tel Aviv municipal council met under the chairmanship of Dr. Weizmann, with mayors of other cities and heads of local councils attending. They issued a statement appealing to the Jewish community to remain calm and await instructions from Jewish leaders and the Zionist movement.

CENSORSHIP ON OUTGOING CABLES IS LIFTED

Censorship of outgoing cables ceased this morning, allowing the Jerusalem JTA office to file a story which the censor killed yesterday, reporting that Rabbi Judan L. Fishman, acting chairman of the Agency executive, was beaten by soldiers who came to arrest him, when he protested against entering a car on Saturday. He was struck in the head.

According to a report from Latrun, where Fishman and others of the Agency heads are confined, the 71-year-old rabbi has gone on a hunger strike to protest his arrest and the violation of his religious tenets. No visitors were allowed into Latrun all day, but tonight it was announced that Mrs. Weizmann and Chief Rabbi Ben Zion Uziel had been permitted to see the detained men.

According to this evening’s official communique the following are among the prominent leaders of the community who are being held: Rabbi Fishman, Moshe Shertok, Dr. Bernard Joseph, Itzhak Gruenbaum and David Remez. It was reported last night that Rabbi Meir Berlin, world president of the Mizrachi organization, had also been seized, but he was not mentioned in the communique.

The communique also announced that the curfew has been lifted in Jerusalem except for the area around the Agency building, in Tel Aviv and in other places. It praised the great “restraint” shown by British soldiers and said in only a few cases had it been necessary to use firearms. The communique said that three Jews were killed and thirteen hospitalized, although according to Jewish sources five were killed, and scores wounded.

Among those arrested during the raids on numerous colonies yesterday and this morning was a former U.S. Army Air Force flyer, Henry Z. Stein, who flew 26 missions over Berlin. Stein, who is a student at the Haifa Institute of Technology, was visiting his sister at the colony of Shaar Haamakim, near Haifa, when the troops arrived. He was invited to act as an interpreter, but when the raid was over he was also arrested.

Another victim was Meir Yaari, the leader of the Hashomer Hazair, and one of the firmest opponents of terrorism and violence. He was seized in Tel Aviv and is now in the Latrun prison.

SETTLEMENTS FACE DIFFICULTIES BECAUSE ALL ABLE-BODIED MEN SEIZED

Many settlements face severe difficulties because almost all their able-bodied men were arrested. Those which were hardest hit include Sarid, where all the male settlers were detained; Dagania, all males; Naan, 231 men and Misra, 84.

The colony of Givat Hayim, which was the scene of a bloody clash between troops and settlers several months ago, was surrounded at dawn this morning by a strong troop cordon. Shooting was heard, but it has been impossible to contact or approach the village.

At Naan, 23 colonists were wounded, ten seriously, when troops forced their way into the settlement, after rejecting a request by the mukhtar that they wait until all the residents had returned to their cottages and then check their identification documents there. They arrested 231 men, including four youngsters from a nearby summer camp, leaving only 37 males, twelve of whom were ill.

Soldiers armed with clubs quelled resistance at Ramat Rachel, two miles south of Jerusalem, while at Yagour, near Haifa, tear gas was used. At Yagour 20 rifles and 30,000 rounds of ammunition are reported to have been discovered. At Ein Harod, in the north, one Jew was killed and two injured when a truck attempted to force a roadblock. Searches were also conducted in Mishmar Hasharon, between Tel Aviv and Haifa, Givat Brenner and other smaller colonies.

All those arrested in colonies in the Haifa district or the vicinity were taken to the Athlit immigrant clearance camp, which was emptied to receive them. The 1,300 visaless immigrants who entered this week on the Josiah Wedgwood, who had been in Athlit, were moved elsewhere. Most of those seized around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are in Latrun.

The Arab reaction to the raids varied. Generally the Arabs remained quiet, neither indicating approval nor disapproval, but their leaders’ attitude might be summed up as follows: the raids were fine, but they did not go far enough.

The secretary of the Arab office in Jerusalem, Achmed Shukeiri, said today: “We do not intend to express our rejoicing at yesterday’s operations. The British authorities have apparently started yawning after a long sleep during which Zionist terrorism has spread its evils throughout Palestine, but we are not confident that this yawning will develop into full awakening and determination.” Shukeiri described the statement issued yesterday by High Commissioner Cunningham announcing the Government’s determination to suppress terrorism as “apologetic” and declared that a handful of determined soldiers could maintain peace in Palestine.