Evening star., 1947-04-16
Palestine
Continued From First Page

Dances. One officer at Tel Aviv said,
I'VE hope this curfew will not last
too long"
Gruner, a 33-year-old Hungarian
veteran of the British Army. and
the three others were members of
Irgun zvai Leumi, the Jewish under
ground organization which claims
ITO have been responsible for most
of Palestine's bloodletting in recent
months.
! Gruner was sentenced January !
by British military court which
found him guilty of participating in
a raid on the Ramat Gan police
station last April % in which two
policemen were killed and Gruner
| wounded.
The three others-Dov Ben Salman
Rosenbaum, "a; Elieser Ben Zion
Kashani, %. and Mordecai Ben
Abraham Alkachi, 21-were con-
demned February 10 by another
military court which convicted them
of having arms and whips in their
possession when they were arrested
December %, the night a British
major and three sergeants were
/ f1ogged by the underground in re-
taliation for the whipping of an
Irgun member.
Prison sources said Gruner. first
OF the four to die, sang the Jewish
national anthem "Hatikvah" Gree
DOM all the while he was on
the scaffold waiting for the moose
to be adjusted, and that these were
his last words:
so long as Jewish soul remains
in our heart; so long as / look
toward Zion, We will not give up
hope, the age-long hope to return
TO the country Of our fathers and to
the city where David lived"
Rosenbaum, Kashani and AlkaShi
followed him to the scaffold in that
order, all singing the anthem and
all, prison attaches said, equally
courageous.
Reprisals Threatened.
Irgun repeatedly has threatened
reprisals against the British II their
soldiers" were hanged and British
Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech
Jones declared in February that
Gruner's death almost certainly
would signal new blood bath in
the Holy Land.
In an effort to bar Just such a
development. the British clamp led a
strict security ring around almost
every Jewish quarter in the land
putting an estimated 100000 Jews
under house arrest. Roads were
blocked and only the most essential
trafnc was permitted to move.
Gruner, the first Jew to be ex-
ecuted for terrorism In Palestine
since Shlomo Ben Youssef, was
hanged In August, 1888, has become,
since his conviction, a symbol of
Irgun Zvai Leumi's violent policies
against the British.
He had adamantly refused to take
any action on his own behalf, main-
tanning that he was prisoner Of
war and should be treated as one.
When it appeared. early this year,
that he was to be hanged. Irgun
kidnapped two British civilians-H.
A. Collins and Judge Ralph Wynd-
ham-as hostages and held them
until Gruner seemed out of imme-
diate danger.
Appeals were taken for him to
Palestine courts and to the Privy
Council in London, Britain's highest
court, but all were rejected, except
one, which was reported still pend
ing before the Privy Council.
Max Seligman, a Tel Aviv attor-
ney representing all four men, said
when he learned of their deaths
that he had intended to visit them
at Acre prison this morning to
discuss their case.
Il am at a loss to understand
why this moment has been chosen
to execute them" he declared,
while We still are engaged in the
final stages of a legal battle to
save their lives"
Legal experts here said that while
it was customary for authorities to
await the outcome of an appeal,