Political report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency submitted to the ... Zionist Congress and the ... session of the Council of the Jewish Agency · 1937-08-01 · 8.1937 · p. Seite 37

37 and, as recorded below, it was only at the end of June that the first large-scale enrolment of Jewish supernumerary policemen took place. 47. During the earlier stages of the disorders Arab aggression took the form of murderous assaults on individual Jews in street corners, of attacks on and desultory sniping at bus convoys, of the destruction of outlying property and of firing at settlements from a distance. But on the night of June 10th the first concerted attack, which was. of a particularly daring character, was carried out on the settlement of Tel Yosef. The attack was successfully repulsed, but the possibility of the recurrence of such onslaughts invested the security problem of the Jewish settlements with new gravity. The need of a large-scale arming was urged by the Jewish Agency with renewed force. On the 11th of June the High Commissioner, accompanied by the Political Representative of the Jewish Agency, visited Mishmar Ha-Emek where he saw the devastation wrought by the forest fires and the defenceless position of the neighbouring settlements. On the 13th of June, authority was given for the enlistment of 800 supernumerary policemen, their maintenance cost to be shared between the Government and the Jewish population. This was the first concentrated effort made by Government to ensure the safety of the Jewish settlements by the provision of an organised Jewish force, armed with military rifles. The men were selected and distributed between the various localities with the active co-operation of the Jewish Agency. As previously mentioned, the actual enrolment of this first batch was only completed at the end of June. The number of Jewish supernumerary policemen, including those engaged locally and privately, reached then a total of 1,300. In July the enlistment was increased centrally by 400, and in August a further 1,000 were added. By the end of the disturbances this defence force of Jewish settlements had attained a total strength of nearly 3,000. 48. The question of the scope of action of the members of the force was the subject of considerable discussion. Throughout the major part of the disturbed period their function was strictly limited to the defence of the settlements proper. Only watchmen armed with shotguns were allowed to go out into the fields, while supernumeraries armed with rifles were permitted to operate only within the perimeter of the settlement. After a further visit of the