Tension in Jerusalem; British Accused of Delivering Jews to Arabs for Execution

All British soldiers were ordered today to stay out of the Jewish sections of Jerusalem because of mounting tension among Jews resulting from the execution last night of four Jews who were apparently handed over by the British to the Arabs. A British Army sergeant major was arrested here today in connection with the murder of the four Jews.

The four Jews were in a party of six who were arrested yesterday at a Haganah defense point by British troops. Two of the six, all of whom were unarmed, escaped before they were herded into an army truck. The remaining four were found shot and their bodies mutilated in an Arab area near the St. Stephen Gate to the Old City some time later. The most authoritative analysis of the incident indicates that the British soldiers deliberately forced the Jews off the truck in an Arab neighborhood where they were picked up by thugs who tortured and killed them.

The arrest of the British sergeant as well as the order placing the Jewish areas of Jerusalem out of bounds followed charges by the Jewish Agency that British troops were implicated in the murders and a warning by Agency officials to high British officers to keep troops out of the city for their own safety. The Agency hinted that Jews might resist arrest by British soldiers, while the Haganah tonight ordered Jews to refuse to submit to arrest by Britons unless a Jewish policemen was also present.

In northern Palestine, where two British soldiers were killed and seven wounded yesterday as troops battled invading Arabs, the battle was joined again today between the British, attempting to mop up scattered units of the invaders, and the Arabs, who were making a new attempt to penetrate the hinterland and join other concentrations of guerrillas in such towns as Nablus. Early this morning the troops encountered the Arabs from Syria at Machniah and inflicted a number of casualties on them and captured some prisoners.

BRITISH BLOCKADE JEWISH SETTLEMENTS; DEMAND PAY FOR HAGANAH DAMAGES

At the same time that they fought the Arabs, the British clamped a virtual blockade on the Jewish settlements of Kfar Giladi, Amir, Misgavim, Halioth and Kfar Blum. The British commander demanded that the Jews pay for damages inflicted during a Haganah raid on a neighboring Arab village last week. When the villagers refused, he halted an armored car which was about to clear Arab roadblocks in the vicinity and turned it back. Later, two Jews in an automobile were ambushed and killed at one of the roadblocks.

Haganah unite throughout Jerusalem today were on guard duty following a night of intensive attack and counterattack by both Jews and Arabs in all parts of the city. Four heavy explosions rocked the city and 17 minor blasts were heard at various times during the night. A number of Arab and Jewish homes were blown up and the Haganah lost one man dead and five injured. At least three Arabs are known to be dead.

The Jaffa-Tel Aviv “front” which was also the scene of raiding last night was the scene of new violence this morning as the Jaffa freight railway station was shelled from Jewish positions. At Kfar Saba, midway between Tel Aviv and Nathanya, a bloody night-long encounter left five Arabs and one Jew dead and at least a dozen Arabs wounded. At Yazur, athwart the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, the Haganah carried out a raid supported by machineguns and mortars. One Arab was left dead and three houses were destroyed.

Four Jews died in Haifa today in another fierce engagement between Jews and Arabs. The port city was the scene yesterday of the murder of one soldier and the wounding of a second by Arabs who wanted their arms.