Evening star., 1948-01-11
Arabs Reported
invading North
Palestine
. Deaths Put at 20 in
3-Cornered Bottle
On Southern Plains
BY the Associofed Press

Jewish Militia Hagana reported
without confirmation tonight
that Arabs again had invaded
Northeastern Palestine from
Syria today, and the government
said 20 persons had been killed
in the south in three-cornered
battle of Jews, Arabs and Brit
ish.
= Hagana said several hundred
Arabs had crossed the northern bor-
der near the village of Tel Ell Kadi
in the same general vicinity as the
first invasion from Syria yesterday
They were beaten back in a Hagana
ambush in which one person was
killed and at least one wounded, the
organization said.
This report was not confirmed
either by the British army or by
news correspondents who talked to
police and military officials in the
region north of Galilee during the
day. The army repelled yesterdays
foray.
Battle in Orange Groves.
The deadly battle in the south
took place in orange groves near
GAIA on the coastal plain.
Arabs of Isdud, north of GAIA,
and Jews of the Yavna settlement
clashed. Troops of the Royal Sussex
Regiment and police rushed in to
restore order, but the battle lasted
for several hours. Twelve of the
dead were Jews and eight were
Arabs. There were no British
casualties.
An Arab force, estimated by police
to number 100 men, also laid siege
to the Jewish settlement of Ramat
Rachel on the outskirts of Jerusalem
near the residence of Gen. Sir Alan
Cunningham, the Palestine high
commissioner. "A British police off,
Ger in that area was injured.
In the sniping which preceded
the siege Maj. Nicholas Androni-
witch, military attache of the United
States consul general, narrowly
escaped injury when his horse was
shot from under him while he was
riding on bride path nearby. The
majors horse was hit twice by high
powered rifle bullets.
Road Blocks In Jerusalem.
The British said military armed
cars had been sent to Ramat Rachel,
a tiny Jewish cooperative commune
ity with population OF 1855. Firing
continued there tonight, however,
and soldiers were sending up flares
to illuminate the scene.
In Jerusalem Jews began putting
up road blocks around their section
of the city similar to those which
the Arabs have been using to slow
and control traffic at the gates Of
the old city for the past two weeks
The Jews generally were using large
oil cans filled with concrete or rocks
to force traffic to 60 single file
through a sharp IS" turn at each
control point.
Besides the one death attributed
to the northern clash and the 2C
to the GAIA battle, four other
Arabs and four other Jews were
killed today In Palestine disorders
The unofficial count Of violent IA
talities rose to 678 since the United
Nations voted for partition Novenn-
ber 20.
Diplomats Ask Protection.
The Arab Higher Executive called
on Arabs through the press and
radio to refrain from attacks on
foreign consulates here, their prop
erty or personnel.
The action followed a request to
both Jews and Arabs from the Jeru-
salem diplomatic corps for safe
guard under international law. The
request grew out of Hagana's recent
dynamiting of the Semiramis Hotel
in which the Spanish acting consul
was killed.
An eight-year old Jewish boy and
another one Is, both suffering from
bullet wounds, were hospitalized In
Jerusalem.
A group of men believed to be
Jews blasted rail line near Te
Aviv delaying a Haifa-Cairo mill
tary train. No casualties were re-
ported
Lancers Guard Frontier.
An official statement said the sit
uation in Northeastern Palestine was
normal this morning" The Arabs
who attacked two Jewish settlements
there had returned to Syria.
The frontier was being guarded
by British Lancers of the famed
Death or Glory" regiment in what
appeared to be a move to seal on
the partition battle in the Holy Lane
from outside Arab attacks.
II this was an indication of British
policy. it was the strongest move
vet in the mounting civil strife that
has threatened to become interna.
tional through the participation Of
Arab volunteer forces from Egypt
Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria anc
Lebanon.
While British soldiers were patrol
ling the border, Arabs manned road
blocks which dot the highways OF
Northern Palestine. The Arab fight
IL