Reports of unchecked Arab rebel activities with bands in unchallenged control of entire sectors kept tension high in Palestine today as six Jews were wounded in a Haifa bombing and the authorities pressed a wide hunt for a family of six Jews kidnaped by Arab raiders yesterday from a labor camp at Athlit, coastal city south of Haifa.
Terrorists threw a bomb into a car carrying Rutenberg Electric Co. employes to work in Haifa this morning, wounding six Jews, three of them seriously.
Planes, troops and police dogs joined in the search for the Arab band which kidnaped Police Inspector Moshe Leiserovitz, 36; his wife Bruria, 34; daughter Rachel, 13; sons Yierach, 7, and Haggai, 30 months; and brother-in-law, Eliahu Kirchiner (originally reported as mother-in-law) . All are Palestine natives. The band was trailed to the Druse village of Daliyat al-Karmil, east of Athlit, before the dogs lost the tracks.
Meanwhile, the Hebrew press, notably the laborite Davar, warned the Government of the critical security position, pointing out that bands ruled entire districts unmolested. The vicinity of Jerusalem, it was asserted, has now become the concentration point for bands which are occupying villages surrounding the city.
Hundreds of uniformed rebels, according to the press, move nightly from village to village and house to house, imposing collective fines and preparing mobilization lists. Last night terrorists invaded the southern and western outskirts of Jerusalem, collecting funds without interference.
A striking illustration of the methods employed by the rebels was seen in Nablus, where the British authorities imposed curfew from 7.30 p.m. to four a.m. following the second robbery in that city within a week. Shortly after proclamation of the curfew, a counter-curfew was proclaimed by the Arab rebel chief, Abdul Rahim Haj Ibrahim, by way of illustrating to the British the hold the rebels maintain over the Arab populace. Notice of the Arab curfew was contained in the following bulletin posted throughout the city:
"By virtue of the powers vested in me, I, Abdul Rahim Haj Ibrahim, general commander of the Palestine bands, hereby order the inhabitants of Nablus and of the vicinity to keep indoors from seven p.m. to four a.m. until further notice. Violators will be punished by death."
Troops this morning searched an Arab village in the northern Sharon Plain and detained 200 villagers for identification. An Arab band last night stole telephone apparatus, medicines and surgical instruments from the Government Hospital at Tulkarem. The young Jew found dead yesterday near the Sanhedria quarter of Jerusalem was identified today as Meir Mordechai Gastwirt, 21, a Yeshiva student from Galicia. He was originally reported as Mordechai Schwartzstein.
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