The British Cabinet, at a meeting this morning attended by Sir John Maffey, permanent Under-secretary for the Colonies and other members of the Colonial Office staff, was understood to have decided not to proclaim martial law in Palestine for the present.
The Havas News Agency quoted a report in official circles tonight that the cabinet had decided to proclaim martial law as soon as troop reinforcements reach Palestine, unless the Arab general strike was called off.
Troops of the Wiltshire regiment and the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, numbering 1,383 men, left Southampton on a troopship to join the forces already in Palestine, Havas said. This contingent will be followed Sunday by the Second Battalion of Scots Guards, who were reviewed at Aldershot today by the Duke of York.
Very little hope was held out by the Cabinet members that drastic steps will be avoided, Havas stated, but all possible measures to prevent aggravation of the Arab unrest will be attempted before martial law is actually applied.
Sir John Simon, Home Secretary, presided at the two-and-half hour session at the Home Office, at which the Palestine situation was the principal topic. Also present were Colonial Secretary Ormsby-Gore, Foreign Secretary Eden, War Secretary Cooper, Defense Secretary Inskip and Air Marshal Ellington.
Havas said British officials had declined to comment on the story sent to the Daily Herald by its special Jerusalem correspondent which asserted that the alleged machinations of Rome in the Holy Land were designed to “further Italian imperial ambitions for turning the Mediterranean into an Italian sea.”
Declaring he had “discovered the full details of a hitherto undisclosed element in the Palestine upheaval — the part played behind the scenes of Fascism, particularly Italy,” the correspondent added that the “recent conquest of Ethiopia was regarded by Italy as the key to the plot.”
The correspondent charged that the Italians “secretly aided” extremist elements in the Arab ranks to launch a revolt for complete independence from Great Britain.
The second phase of the plot was said to be a determined effort to induce the Jews to start a movement for Italy’s appointment by the League of Nations as mandatory power over Palestine, replacing Britain.
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.
