News Brief

Representations on behalf of the United States Government to the Government of Palestine, asking greater protection for the families of Americans resident in the country, were made by Oscar Hauser, American Consul General in Jerusalem, according to a report of the Palestine correspondent of the Warsaw “Hajnt.”

The action was the result of a criminal attack made by three Arabs upon the daughter of an American Jewish family, whose name was not disclosed. The girl went for a walk at nine o’clock in the evening, accompanied by a young man, also the son of an American Jewish family in Palestine. When they were near the old city wall, on the road to the Polish Consulate, they were attacked by three Arabs.

The young man ran to call the police but when he returned with a gendarme, the girl was found unconscious, her mouth gagged. The assailants had fled after committing the crime. In the majority of cases preceeding this one, the assailants have not been apprehended, the correspondent states.

The family appealed to the American Consul and as a result of his intervention, a general search was made by the Jerusalem authorities under the personal direction of the chief of the Palestine police. The three assailants were arrested and tried on May 15, behind closed doors. The American Consul was present at the proceedings. Norman Bentwich, Palestine attorney general, acted as the prosecutor. Large crowds gathered around the court house, awaiting the result of the trial.

Each of the three was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor. This was the heaviest punishment imposed for such cases in Palestine in recent years.