Arab disorders, entering their seventeenth week today, brought the threat of extension of the general strike to the important port of Haifa, which serves as a British naval base and the terminus of the Iraq Petroleum Company’s pipeline.
A strike of Government employees and railway workshop laborers went partially into effect at Haifa after a day of stormy meetings which ended in no final action. Jews and Egyptians did not join the strike. Harbor activity was not affected. Arab workers at the Iraq Petroleum Co. plant called a strike yesterday.
Seventeen Arabs were arrested in Haifa on charges of intimidating laborers to strike. Eight others were seized for possessing arms and five for attempting to steal Government-owned explosives.
While unrest among Arab laborers was mounting, Government circles felt sure harbor traffic would continue because of the presence of strong army and naval forces. Sailors began convoying trains from Haifa this morning after two cars had been set afire by rebels.
The Government, changing its course from defense to a vigorous offensive, warned newspapers not to mention strike agitation by Arab Government employees and distributed leaflets among Arab towns and villages, particularly in the coastal area, announcing stringent steps to halt terrorism.
The leaflets announced comprehensive house-to-house searches. They warned peasants against feeding, hiding or supporting brigands and explained the military forces were determined to completely purge the country of terrorist gangs, after which — and not before — the British Royal Commission would arrive to investigate Arab grievances.
The Government denied reports in Arab newspapers that William Ormsby-Gore, British Colonial Secretary, had given High Commissioner Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope permission to halt Jewish immigration at his discretion.
Scattered disorders continued in various parts of the country. Troops beat off attacks on several colonies. About 3,000 orange trees were uprooted in two days at Meretz and Tel Mond. Police were searching for a band of Arabs that stole 250 sheep at Hittin. A member of an Arab band was wounded when an attack on Kinereth was beaten off.
Following failure of Emir Abdullah’s mediation, it was semi-officially admitted the situation in the Holy Land is grave but hope was expressed that order would soon be restored.
All-night shooting occurred in the outskirts of Jerusalem and at Kiriat Haim, Nesher, Yavniel and Kfar Yavetz.
The Transjordan Frontier Forces engaged a band of Arabs in the Kinderets Hills, killing one. Friday’s clashes between British troops and rebels accounted for the lives of 23 Arabs, according to later reports.
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.
