HC Deb 05 April 1944 vol 398 cc2016-8W
Captain Plugge

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement on the terrorist outrages in Palestine and their object.

Colonel Stanley

I regret having to report that since 13th March casualties among police have been nine killed and five wounded or injured. These criminal acts are committed by members of a secret organisation of Jewish extremists known as the Stern Group, and members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, the military organisation of the Revisionists.

Following is a detailed statement:

On the 13th March a Jewish constable was murdered at Petah Tikvah. During the evening of 23rd March, at Tel Aviv, Mr. Charles George Brown, Chief Clerk, District Police Headquarters, was shot and kilted as he was leaving his house; British Constable William Douglas Caley was shot and killed outside the Magistrate's Court; British Constable Thomas Lantry was shot and seriously wounded in the street and died later, and British Constable Cyril Henry Gillman was slightly wounded. At Haifa on the same date a number of bombs exploded at the rear of Police Headquarters, damaging buildings. British Constables Lawrence Gordon Allison, James Mackie and Arthur Harding were dead when extricated from the wreckage, and British Constables Arthur Leslie Clarke, John William Bell and Peter George Johnson were injured. On the same date a number of men wearing articles of police uniform entered Police Headquarters at Jerusalem by means of a ladder. They were disturbed by Assistant Superintendent John William Scott, who opened fire. The intruders returned fire, killing him. A number of bombs which the party had brought with them and deposited subsequently exploded causing serious damage but no further casualties. At Jaffa on the same date four rucksacks containing gelignite were discovered in an air-raid shelter below the Police Headquarters. The building was evacuated, and shortly afterwards a number of explosions occurred, damaging the building. There were no casualties. On 1st April, British Inspector H. C. Coles, accompanied by a Palestinian Police Sergeant, acting on information received that a wounded man was lying in a house at Haifa, entered the house to find within four Jews, one of whom was wounded. Three men escaped through the window. The wounded man threw a hand grenade which dangerously wounded the Palestinian Police Sergeant, who according to Press reports has since died, and slightly wounded the British Inspector. The wounded Jew also escaped through the window, but was afterwards found in a Jewish hospital in a dangerous condition. A search of the house revealed military uniforms, arms, electrical appliances and equipment for the production of Stern Group literature.