Mexia Daily News · 10 December 1947
CP-1947-032
Britain Warns “Severe Measures” to Be Taken To Halt Palestine Riots
Jews and Arabs Told Order Will Be Kept While British Mandate Remains in Force
United Press, Jerusalem
Transcribed from the clipping
“JERUSALEM, Dec. 10—(UP)—Palestine High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham, alarmed by the ever-mounting death toll in the Holy Land, warned Jews and Arabs today that the government will take ‘severe measures’ against them unless disorders end.
Cunningham said in a communique that Great Britain will keep order in Palestine ‘so long as the (British) mandate for Palestine remains in force.’ ‘Should these disorders continue, the high commissioner will have no option but to direct security forces to adopt severe measures against all those Jews and Arabs alike who are breaking the law,’ the communique said.
The British maintained a strict curfew in the embattled Tel Aviv-Jaffa area during the night, and followed this up with searches and arrests in the area today. Jews and Arabs caught with illegal arms were hustled off to jail. Scattered disorders in other parts of Palestine, however, killed four Arabs and two Jews.
In addition, a Spanish priest, Father Oriol, was seriously wounded in the stomach by an unknown sniper. The priest was standing on the roof of a school when hit. Arab leaders, attacking Indian fashion, killed a Jewish woman and two Jewish men as they worked in a field near Gaza, in an Arab area on the southern coast of Palestine.
Only one Jew escaped the Arabs who suddenly swarmed across the settlement field. Another Jew was burned to death in the Beth Yakove settlement when Arabs set fire to his house during early morning darkness. Two Arabs were found slain in Jaffa.
Even before today’s casualties were counted, the Palestine death toll stood officially at 111, in addition to the 70 Arabs reported killed Monday.”
Context added by this archive
Printed beside a Republican anti-inflation program and a defeated move to hand foreign aid to the Red Cross. The phrase “attacking Indian fashion” is the paper’s.
Cite this clipping
"Britain Warns “Severe Measures” to Be Taken To Halt Palestine Riots," Mexia Daily News, 10 December 1947, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1947-032. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1947-032
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- Arab Assassins Kill Six Jews in Palestine RiotMexia Daily News · 8 December 1947
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Last updated 2 November 2026
This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1724 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the news agency that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. A city here is where the newspaper was published, not where the story came from, and on most records it was taken from the masthead.
Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1947-032.
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