The week-end in Palestine passed fairly quietly with only one extremist attack today and the killing of a Jew by rioting British troops in Rishon L’Zion yesterday.
The Jewish Agency executive held a meeting today to discuss measures to be taken to combat dissident groups within the Jewish community. However, a spokesman refused to disclose details of the measures, asserting that publicity would rob them of effectiveness.
Commenting on the current situation, the same spokesman said that "what we have now is a war between (Foreign Secretary Ernest) Bevin and (Menachem) Beigin." He asserted that the Palestine Jews, on one hand, and the British forces in the country, on the other, were "nothing but tools and victims" in the battle. He also revealed that the Agency had demanded a full-dress investigation of the rioting of British troops in Tel Aviv Thursday and Friday, during which five Jews were killed. He concluded that the situation could not be expected to improve as long as the government continued to impose martial law and turn away refugee immigrants.
One Arab was killed today and another wounded when six Jews blew up a section of railway between Rehovoth and Beer Yaacov. The Irgun handed out leaflets in Tel Aviv last night threatening to hang a British soldier for every Jew who is hanged by the British. "Mercy pleas by British fathers shall have no effect on us just as Jewish appeals for mercy for the three Irgun men went unheeded."
BRITISH SOLDIERS MACHINE GUN JEW FROM RACING JEEP
In Rishon L’Zion British soldiers continued their private war on the Jewish population yesterday when several of them in a jeep raced through the streets and opened fire on a group of men standing at an outdoor soft drink stand. Herbert Rabinovicy, 32, fell, mortally wounded. Jewish police, called to investigate the murder, were also fired upon by the troops, who escaped. None of the policemen were injured.
The body of a Jew who had been shot through the chest after being badly beaten was discovered yesterday in the vicinity of the Lydda airport. Several Arabs saw the body being hurled from a military vehicle. It is believed that the Jew was kidnapped several days ago on a Tel Aviv street by several Britons. It is also feared that this may be a continuation of the activities of a fascist group within the Palestine police force which was responsible for the murder several months ago of 17-year-old Alexander Rubovitz.
During searches of two Jewish quarters yesterday in connection with a Sternist attack on an RAF barracks in Jerusalem Friday night, a cache of arms was found in a shed attached to a Jewish-owned home in the Givat Shaul quarter. Two men were arrested. During the six-and-a-half hour operation, over 500 persons were questioned and 58 were detained, despite their protests against the desecration of the Sabbath. Later, all but a handful were released.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
