Evening star., 1948-02-23
Patrols Tie Up
Jerusalem After
81 Die in Blast
At Least SO Injured
Dug From Debris of
Hotels, Apartments
picture on Page A-3.)
BY the Associated Press

Dy WS NssoSioieo rtess
JERUSALEM, Feb. 23.-Jeru-
salem was virtually paralyzed
today as gun-carrying Arabs,
Britons and Jews patrolled a
city made bitter and tense by
yesterdays bombing of the Jew
ish sector, in which at least 50
persons died.
Rescue workers clawing at the
wreckage of two hotels, three apart
ment houses and scores of shops
along two blocks of Ben Yehuda
street, extricated nine more bodies
today, boosting to So the numbe,
of dead. At least 88 injured have
been dug from the debris Hagana
workers at the scene said there pos
sibly were more victims in the rub
BILE. =
Arab leaders said their comman-
dos set off the two truckloads of
explosives which caused the blast
butt Jews seemed convinced that the
British were somehow responsible
Nine British soldiers were killed in
retaliatory gun fighting after the
explosion and three Jews lost their
lives. The death toll for the day
thus stood at "a.
Triple Guards on Duty.
Streets were mined and tripled
guard stood duty at British security
zone gates and at vital administra-
tive and military buildings.
Jews worked feverishly to
strengthen their own barbed wire
and cement block barricades.
All Jewish sections of the city
were ordered out of bounds to the
military. Jews warned even British
police to stay out unless accom-
panied by Jewish police.
Irgun Zvai Leumi. extremist jew
ish underground group, proclaimed:
"As from today all British person.
mel, military and police, entering
Jewish sections will be subject to
execution"
The already crippled civil admin
istration was rendered virtually nom
existent as the city was blocked of
into three zones of war.
British Suspected by Jews.
Belief spread among Jews that the
British had hand in the explosion
as the Jews claimed they did in the
Palestine Post blast on February l..
Jewish rescue workers refused to
use British firef1ghting and debris
clearing appaiatus rushed to the
scene One of the first British police,
men to arrive after the blast was
beaten. British correspondents were
threatened.
Later in the day five British
soldiers were killed and six injured
when a mine shattered their army
truck.
Two Raj troopers were fatally
shot near the gate of the British
security zone. A chaplain was
wounded and his army driver killed
by gun-fire near the Jewish Agency
building.
A British constable was wounded
in crossfire at a police station and
Jew killed.
Armoured cars crushed Jewish
road blocks to widen defense lanes.
There was no official estimate of
the damage caused by the Ben
Yehuda blast. A Jewish source said
it amounted to millions of pounds" !"
Hagana Investigates.
One Arab military source said
the explosives we're placed by seven
Arab commandos" in Palestine police
uniform. The commandos had been
trained in Syria under Czechoslo-
yak officers"
Reports that the attackers were
in uniform increased anti-British
feeling among the Jews.
A government statement said "it
is considered unbelievable that this
act could have been committed by
members of security forces"
A Jewish Agency spokesman said
Hagana was investigating the blast.
An Arab military leader COM
illSl4tCN Gl21G VIC 4oSC I4lC AlCll wiz
bombedl Ben Yehuda street wore
British uniforms should not be sur
prising to the Jews. They've been
wearing stolen uniforms and driving
stolen British trucks on their jobs
for six years"
Elsewhere in the Holy Land vio-
lence continued.
In Tel Aviv armed Jews who at
tempted to enter Barclays Bank
were driven off by police fire, an
official statement said.
In Cairo the Arab League Council
decided to forward to Arab countries
for individual action a proposal for
taxes to aid Arabs in Palestine.
In Damascus, Syria, an Arab Off
Ger said British intervention in the
Hula and Beisan areas of Palestine
had checked Arab plans for an
early offensive.
The officer, member of Fawzi
Bey AL Kaukji's Yarmour army,
said fighting in the Beisan area,
some so miles north of Jerusalem,
halted yesterday. He said 80 Brit
ish armored vehicles moved be-
tween the Arab lines and concen-
tration of 1900 Hagana fighters.