§ Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why Simcha Tundovsky, against whom a charge of shooting was dropped by the Palestine police as there was no evidence against him, was, on 25th August, 1938, ordered to be detained for 12 months under the Prevention of Crimes Ordinance; and what reason was there for applying this Ordinance when there was opportunity for bringing him before a properly constituted court of law?
Mr. M. MacDonaldI have no information on this matter, but I am asking the High Commissioner for Palestine for a report.
§ Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies why Abraham Katz, of Kibbutz Avraham, near Karkur in Palestine, had, at or about the beginning of 1938, been kept in prison for four months when the assistant district commissioner who ordered him to be detained stated that in his belief Katz was not guilty but that he would be detained so that he might not hamper police investigations; and whether he will take steps to ensure that a prisoner who denies that he committed or had any knowledge of a crime, and in whose innocence the assistant district commissioner believes, should not be imprisoned on mere suspicion?
Mr. M. MacDonaldAbraham Katz, together with five other Jews, was arrested in September, 1937, following the 2121W murder of two Arabs near Karkur. Although five of these men, including Katz himself, were working within 20 metres of the scene of the murder and the sixth was also in the vicinity, they refused when questioned to give any statement or to assist the police in any way. As regards the last part of the question, I am not prepared to agree to any modification in the present circumstances of the powers conferred by the Emergency Regulations in Palestine.