Two Jews were killed today and many injured as British troops and police launched the greatest man-hunt seen in Palestine in years in an attempt to locate five Army and R.A.F. officers kidnapped yesterday from an officers club in Tel Aviv.
The city of Tel Aviv and several settlements in the Safed area of northern Palestine were cut off from the rest of the country as soldiers and police made house to house searches for the kidnapped men and their abductors. However, it was announced that the curfew imposed on Tel Aviv will be lifted at 4 a.m. Thursday.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, world leader of the Zionist movement, was hurriedly summoned to confer with High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham at 6 p.m. this evening. The subject of their discussions was not revealed.
Tension was heightened by the announcement this morning that a sixth officer, Major H.B. Chadwick, had disappeared yesterday and is presumed to have been kidnapped, and by reports from British sources that the present country-wide operations were aimed not only at finding the kidnapped men and locating hidden arms, but also at crippling the Haganah, largest Jewish resistance group.
ALL JEWISH ESTABLISHMENTS IN PALESTINE DECLARED OUT OF BOUNDS
All Jewish establishments in the country, such as restaurants, cafes and motion picture theatres, have been declared out of bounds for British troops until the kidnapped men are released.
The only persons to be seen in the streets of Tel Aviv today were khaki-clad soldiers making house to house searches. The troops, who began combing the city at dawn, carried out a wide-spread man-hunt in every quarter of Tel Aviv. Roadblocks were established at every street corner, and the few civilians who had permission to be in the streets were stopped every few yards and forced to show their identification documents. The municipal council, which has condemned the kidnappings, posted placards throughout Tel Aviv urging the release of the abducted men.
19 JEWS KILLED SINCE SUNDAY; ARAB LEGION FIRES ON SETTLERS
Today’s killings, which occurred during a raid on the colony of Kfar Giladi in northern Palestine, brought to at least 22 the total number of dead since Sunday night. Of these, 19 were Jews.
Today’s victims were Zvi Ashkenasi of the colony of Yesod Hamsaleh, near Kfar Giladi, and an unidentified settler from Machnaim, in the name area. Six colonists were wounded when troops of the Transjordan Frontier Force fired on a group of Jews from neighboring villages who were coming to the aid of Kfar Giladi.
Reports from Kfar Giladi received late tonight, following resumption of its telephone service, which had been cut off to prevent a warning from reaching the colony, said that the troops had left after a fruitless eight-hour search.
A police communique today disclosed that among those arrested yesterday at the village of Hanita, on the Lebanese frontier, was Dan Ram, one of the chief guides of the British forces which invaded the Levant in the 1941 campaign against the Vichy French.
The Agricultural Workers Council, at a special session in Tel Aviv today, voted to send as many farm hands as may be required to colonies whose male members are seized by the police or military. This morning settlers from villages in the neighborhood of Jerusalem went to Beth Hearava, 70 of whose residents were arrested on Monday.
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.
