The Haganah today announced that last night it ?ted the headquarters of an Arab band in the village of Khasis, in Upper Galilee, ?ch had been terrorizing Jews travelling on the roads in the district and threaten? Jewish settlements. The Haganah task force returned safely to base.
As a result, the government ordered a 36-hour road curfew imposed on Jewish ?icular traffic in the entire northern Huleh section.
The police announced that 10 Arab guerrilla fighters were killed in the dyna?ing of the house. Earlier this week, Zalman Winter, 19, a Jewish settlement po?eman was killed by members of the band while he was on convoy duty.
A Jew was killed today in an attack on a Jewish convoy tr?elling along the ?usalem-Tel Aviv road. The British escort made no attempt to return the Arab fire ? to pursue the fleeing hit-and-run killers, while the Jews aboard the several ?icles feared to fire at the Arabs because the British would arrest them and con?cate their “illegal” arms. The doad man was Yonah Rasin, 38, an active member of ? Haganah.
A second Jew died in a Haifa hospital late today from wounds received earlier ? the day. The Jew, Zeev Mizrachi, was shot by a sniper while he was walking on ?gsway, the main street of Haifa.
The Haganah today went over to the offensive in the vicinity of Holon after a ?ght of constant sniping by Arabs from adjoining villages. The Jews waited until ?te this morning, when they sighted an Arab detachment entrenched in a gully. They ?tacked, killing one Arab, wounding three others and scattering the remainder in ?fusion. Afterwards, the head of the local council of Holon asked the authorities ? sed troops to cordon off the area until the gunmen were smoked out.
On the Tel Aviv-Jaffa border the Haganah last night blew up a snipers nest. allowing the blast, in which a nearby store was also damaged, all sniping ceased.
230 ARABS, 120 JEWS KILLED IN “FIRST ROUND” OF ARAB-JEWISH FIGHT
Jewish sources today surveyed the results of the “first round” of Arab-Jewish ?lence, estimating that the outbreaks have so far cost the lives of 120 Jews and 230 ?abs and resulted in the wounding of more than 200 Jews and over 300 Arabs. Ob?rvers feel that the Jews have won the first round, but that the danger is far from ?er.
With both sides racing against time to equip and organize their forces, it is ?t that the decision as to whether there will be continued bloodshed depends on the follwing three factors: 1. Speedy and resolute U.N. action. 2. The Haganah coming into the open and acquiring heavy armor. 3. King Abdullah’s inclination to ? partition.
Fulfillment of any one of these three conditions will lessen the possibility ?rfare, while attainment of the first two will automatically result in the third. ?oint that is stressed is that the stronger the Haganah, and the less its activi? are hampered, the less the possibility of violent conflict.
Jewish sources cite the fact that the mere appearance of Haganah planes over ? Negev in the last few days has discouraged the Bedouins against making further ?ks on Jewish colonies. However, even arming of the Haganah, they admit, will ? completely obviate the possibility of clashes, since the Mufti and other extremists ? try by all means–including supplying money and manpower–to make the Palestine ? rise.
ARAB WORKERS RETURN TO JEWISH PLANTS; LIFE RETURNING TO NORMAL
Meanwhile, Arab workers are slowly returning to work in Jewish-owned enter?es and the country’s economic life is gradually returning to normal. Many ob?ers believe that the Arabs will continue to resume their every-day life until ? Mufti gives the signal for a fresh uprising.
Commenting on the Arab League’s recent meeting in Cairo, informed circles ?ess the Mufti’s failure to obtain from that body a clearcut statement of support ? his policies. The members of the Palestine Arab Higher Executive are scheduled ? meet in the Egyptian capital tomorrow to discuss future operations.
A Haganah spokesman here denied press reports to the effect that the organization would cease its visaless immigration operations. “Immigration by all ways and ?ns will be continued uninterrupted as long as there are barriers to immigration in ?stence,” he insisted.
About 100 armed Arabs held up a freight train on the Haifa-Lydda run this afternoon. They unloaded 35 tons of sugar into waiting trucks and drove off unmolested.
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.
