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Arab-jewish Peace Movement Spreading in Palestine; Haganah Arms Cache Seized

August 21, 1947
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Peace overtures between Jews and Arabs, which yesterday culminated in a formal ceremony marking the signing of a “peace treaty” between the inhabitants of adjoining areas in the Jaffa-Tel Aviv border areas, today spread to other parts of the country.

In the Tel Aviv area, where the truce sentiment is particularly strong, Arabs from the Manshieh quarter of Jaffa and Yemenite Jews from a nearby section today signed a second “covenant” with a repetition of yesterday’s “burying the dagter” caremony. One of the passages of the agreement says that a “foreign hand tried to instigate the Arabs against the Jews, but only irresponsible boys responded to the instigation, while the entire population is opposed to it.”

British troops today found a large arms cache in the Yemin Moshe quarter of Jerusalem. Nine persons have been detained for questioning concerning the weapons store. It was learned that the arms had been transferred to the hiding place during the past few days by the Haganah and that they were intended for use in defending Jewish homes if the recent Arab attacks spread to Jerusalem. The cache included about 400 hand grenades, pistols, rifles and light automatic rifles and a large quantity of small arms ammunition.

It was apparent from the manner in which the hunt was conducted that someone living in the neighborhood must have informed the officials of the presence of the arms. The troops cordoned off the quarter just before dawn, sending all men into hastily erected barbed wire pens. Then they proceeded directly to a school house where they located the entrance to the cache in a washroom. Behind one of the fixtures they found an iron door leading into a small cave carved out of rock.

Meanwhile, police detachments arrested Shalom Halevi, chairman of the Ramath Gan General Zionist committee, and I. Ben Amitai, an attorney, and Revisionist member of the town council.

JEWISH AGENCY DEMANDS GOVERNMENT END “OUTRAGES” BY TROOPS

Reacting to the murder yesterday of a 17-year-old Jewish youth by soldiers firing from a speeding military vehicle, the Jewish Agency today demanded that the government put an immediate end to further “outrages by military personnel.”

An Agency spokesman charged that the troops have grown bolder in their terrorism against the Jewish population and have even dared to shoot down Jews in broad daylight, something which they previously only did under cover of night. He also demanded a public report on the case of Major Roy Farran, alleged to have murdered a Jewish youth, and on the riots in Tel Aviv at the end of last month by troops and police during which five Jews were killed.

Four hundred and sixty-eight Jewish orphans arrived in Haifa this morning on two British transports from Cyprus. They reported that newsmen, photographers and even social workers were not permitted near them while they embarked at the island port of Famagusta, for fear of possible sabotage of the vessels.

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