DISARMING THE ARABS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 11

DISARMING THE ARABS.

I When General Allen by started hisj phenomenal inarch across the Sinai Desert with the object of dislodging the- J Turk oat of the vicinity of the Suez j Canal, which includes Palestine, because > that country is the most suitable base ■ for anv army operating against the ! canal, iuany Arab tribes, who were thor- j ou"hly fed up with the Turks or who | fust wanted a change or a chance to 'fto-ht joined the British and were armed br them. The stores that General Allenbv took over to Palestine were enormous. Not half of them ever arrived in the country. Immense quantities were pilfered on the way and distributed to the allied Arab tribes. \Vaen the war was over and all troops were disbanded and disarmed, the Arabs disappeared or came to tell tne British Quartermaster's Department that they had lost their equipment. What they had done in fact, was they had buried and hidden their equipment. Palestine is simply full of caves, amazing labyrinths, in some of which, it's easy to tee ones TO v and never get out. Entire dm sions could be hidden in those caves let alone a few thousand rifles. Hence the fact that when an occasion arises like the recent Jewish massacres, the Arabs don't have-to look for arms: And it s virtually impossible to disarm them.