MUSSOLINI'S HAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 11

MUSSOLINI'S HAND.

PALESTINE TROUBLES.

ITALIAN DICTATOR ACCUSED

AN organised REBELLION. An Hl*!' i -n r-vi.-tv of tiio r.-ilos. tini' .-I: ■ n :« I'nsi'ii'M lii-rc In- j] lp r:iM>! I: : I. iiiiiin 1.1, S;iok:ii)p •• ■ n "ly I.n n>], \vh''' '' * [ 1 ' r '• 'Hi '11 ■ r ;i _-, le „f N-i I ;'1 .I.', is c—t:i«»U«s!,i ni? a (By t: \ i"I•• r \ nrtf.TTT rr. fixk.) Sl'OK \ N!' I Wa-hingtonl, T)ec. If). It w;i-• dm-to In l in Palestine last sti 1 knew it full well when I p I;i mf! ! •• trio. init I was amazed to pi.'o i'i:;■ •'' ''"in in.-in- evidence of the ten-ion uii'i v.' ' li the atmosphere of the land was -urciiarged. When I was in I'a!■ -1 •i• •. t'lo British appeared determined. to prevent further Arab terrni'i-ni and m;:rder. ililil.trv nil k.s. manned l>y soldiers, and ]iii\iii~ ununited machine-guns in plain ve-u. piii !"■ ileil all highways, even th\se in veiM-'le mul thinly-populated sections. In ■r•■ ■I. liritish soldiers couiinandi'i'''' il ..nil occupied a ncwlyronst rui't l ■' 1 hotel. The l!rifi-h inid their fleet of airplanes mill aruunired cars and thousands of infantry ready for service. Military police id l.c recti on the streets o'f every city. Sandbags decorated roofs of manv buildings. Rolls of !'.'irlicil w ire, necessary in recent riots to present Arabs from entering the <fi'e<ts where Jewri lived, were seen lot t where these were formerly n?ed becan-e it was considered advisable to have these available at a moment's nut ice. An Arab Revolt. The casual new-paper reader has some knowledge ot the ghastly and murderous activities of Arabs. JSut you may not know that Arab violence lias reached the proportions of a carefully planned, skilfully organised anil welllinanced Arab rebellion against Great Britain. It is. furthermore, a rebellion that has hern artificially engineered to serve, nut the pitiful Arab masses, but selfish interests inside and outside of the country. To understand the situation, it is necessary to understand the Arabs. Through no fault of their own. they are a primitive people. Because of exploitation, 1 hey have been denied opportunities for education. Nearly all Arabs are illiterate. Living in blistering heat and lacking mental discipline, they are a highly emotional and superstitious folk. Added to aW this, the Arabs are fanatically religious, anil incredibly gullible and nai\e. These untutored, superstitious, credulous, economically exploited and highly emotional people are easy victims of propaganda machinery.l The economy of Arab Palestine is almost feudal. Feudal landlords, living in idle luxury in Cairo and Berlin and London and Dnmascun, have for centuries kept the great mass of Palestine Arabs in ignorance and a state of quasi serfdom. When Jews started coming to Palestine and bought land at exorbitant prices from the feudal barons who owned them, the latter were delighted at the undreamed-of prices they received for sand dunes arid rocky wasteland and swam]*. But soon the wealthy Arabs understood that the new immigrants menaced their future profits. Every Ingenious Device. Arab workmen and farmers formerly received 15 or 20 cents pay for a hard day's toil. Suddenly Arab and Jewish workers were receiving from Jewish employers 00 cents to one dollar a dav for fewer hours. When Arabs began to demand higher wages from ArSb landowners, the trouble started. The efl'endi, the wealthy or prominent class of Arabs, became active. They agitated among the people with malicious and false stories that the Jews had come to govern Palestine, that the Jews were planning to dispossess, the resident Arabs of their land and their cities and •U that they treasured. They said in hundreds of virulent speeches and impassioned news articles that the Jews contemplated nothing less than the complete political subjugation of the Arabs. Many times the Arabs were informed that the British Government is an ally of the Zionist organisation and. to further British imperial interests in Palestine and the Near East, Britain was quite willing to permit the .Tews to dispossess the Arabs of all Palestine, and to replace them. According to the efTendi. the •lows planned to rebuild Solomon's temple upon one of the holiest spots in the Moslem world, atid the Jews expected to destroy the mosque of Omar. The efTendi knew the victims of their propaganda. They employed every ingenious device that was calculated to inspire fear and hatred among the Arabs. As time went on and it became apparent that the Jew of Palestine were unafraid, that thousands continued to Migrate to Palestine, that the heroic pioneers could not be deterred from tlieir purpose of building their homeland. despite t|| o pain of parting from cherished kinsmen and friends whom the Arabs would butcher from time to time, the effendi- eh singed their tactics. They rebelled not, against the Jews who had come to the country, but against Great Britain, who was responsible for the •Tewish threat to their inordinate greed. Grand Mufti Held Ambitious. The grand mufti of Palestine became ft powerful ally of the effendi. Using all "is prestige and inlluence as the titular head of the Moslems of Palestine, the grand mufti inflamed the masse 2. exhorted them to action a nil planned their savage programmes of murder and destruction.

die grand mufti harbour* ambitions '° become the caliph of the .Moslem °rl'l■ He i* a ln'tiv and ruthless and "nibitious man. He want* to appear in tnn forefront of th,. defenders of Arab interests -|-) ln Mn-his of Syria and -'Chatiun. Yemen and the lledjaz. I'.gypt. anrl T''hnsjordan must surely be imP'ossp,-| by 1 iie uraiid mufti's zeal and devotion to Mc-l-n welfare. In time he n, «-y l,e rewarded for his militant «npport. Mussolini is fe most effective ally of the Arab feudal landlords. The grand

mufti wishes to do all he can to lessen ntish prestige among tiu> Moslems of ' jne world. In f,,,t. AI; i>l i 11 i intends to alienate .Mo-lem affections from j'reat Britain and turn them toward J wly. it is common knowledge that t »e would-be Cae-ar of Italy is looking w 'th covetous eye-- tii tiie Sear Fast. He has been making friendly overtures ,? people. ITe wants to expand J 11 ** empire ,t],,nir the Mediterranean. J he conquest of Ethiopia is jiust the t 'ssmiiiiig of Lies brazen designs. If he

can cause the Arabs of Palestine to become dissatisfied with British rule, if he can help persuade them that Britain has been unjust, if he can appear as their helper and friend, will not the Aralw of Palestine rejoice in their newly acquired friend, the swaggering ruler of a European country? Mussolini's Hostility. The friendship of Palestinian Arabs is not important to Mussolini, except for the good reason that the Arabs of all the Near Eastern world, some 30.000.000 of them, and 100,000,000 Moslems' of India will be delighted with Mussolini because he is the helper and friend of the Moslem people. Mussolini weakens the enemy. Great Britain, and strengthens himself among the Moslems of the world every time he arouses the Arabs of Palestine, telling them that they are being dispossessed of their home, their sovereignty, their property and their religion by Great Britain s policy, which permits more and more Jews, to settle in Palestine. Thus the Arabs have become flaming Palestinian nationalists who wish to have the mandate scrapped, Jew immigration stopped and the country ruled entirely by Arabs. Mussolini has his agents, speak over the radio in Arabic, sending numerous inflammatory broadcasts from Southern Italy across the sea to Palestine and to the many Arab countries all around Palestine. Most of the Arabs are unable to lead the newspaper, but they can hear and understand. Their fierce emotions, easily aroused, cause them to go forth and kill any and all Jews they can find. British Plans Miscarry. British statesmen have long been puzzled. When the mandate by which the League of Nations appointed Great Britain to administer the affairs of Palestine was first established, all the world believed that a Jewish national home in Palestine would prove most helptut to Arabs. It would increase wages and employment among Arabs. It would increase Arab population as well as the Jewish population of Palestine, ft would improve the general standard of living for the masses of Arabs.

lax moneys paid by Jews on their industrial and agricultural properties would proportionately benefit Arabs more than Jews. Funds from Jewish sources would build new Arab schools and Arab hospitals and improve old OIK'S. Neither the Government of Great Britain nor the L nited States, nor anv of the 50 nations of the League could have foreseen that the greed of wealthv landlords and the sordid aims of the ruthless Grand Mufti and the sinister ambitions of Mussolini would together con-.-pirc to prevent the execution of a beautiful and humane idea. As a matter of fact the Jewish population of Palestine has brought to the Arabs all that was implicit in Jewish' settlement of Palestine and much more. The Royal Commission went to Palestine and studied the complex situation for months. All data of the local Palestine Government was before the Commission. Leaders among the Arabs submitted lengthy testimony. Zionists and other Jewish leaders appeared before the Commission. Documented briefs were presented by both sides. The illustrious members of the Commission laboured for months and then presented its report in the form of a book of more than 400 pages. Tax moneys paid by Jews on their industrial and agricultural properties would proportionately benefit Arabs more than Jews. Funds from Jewish sources would build new Arab schools and Arab hospitals, and improve old ones. Arab Population Benefits. The importation of Jewish capital lias had, according to the royal commission, "a. general fructifying effect" on the economic life of the Arabs. The report points ou-t that the amazingly high prices that Jews in their desperate land iilinger paid for ground considered unenltivable was used by the Arabs to expand Arab agriculture, Arab industry and Arab employment. It points out facts:

"Six times more Arab-owned land is now planted with citrus than in 1017.

"Arab industry and Arab bank deposits have steadily increased with the growth <if Jewish population.

'•Wages have steadily gone up.

'•Factory labour among Palestinian Arabs i.s paid up to three dollar* per day. whereas the Arabs of Traq receive no more than ."JO cents, and the neighbourin" Arabs of Syria a maximum wage of tiO cents."

The report of the royal commission asserts that the new Jewish immigration ha<s benefited the Arab population of the country in the following ways, in addition to those already mentioned:

Jewish example has done, much to improve the quality and quantity of Arab cultivation. Jewish reclamation and anti-malaria work has improved the health of the Arabs. Jewish medical -work and Jewish instilut. ion?, such as the tuberculosis hospital £lt Safed. the radiology institute a t Jerusalem, the rural sick benefit funds, the health education provided for mothers and the infant welfare stations ,f the Hadassah- organisation, have pro- '*• ln .i Tuaniificent health services to Arabs as well as Jews. ynornious revenue from Customs and ■ mertv taxation, paid by the Jews into th Treasury of the Palestine Govern-

nient, benefit Arabs more than the Jews. Such moneys from Jewish sources provide schools, roads, bridges, police protection and many other Governmental undertakings. Such public works make for employment of Arab labour.

Greed of Feudal Landlords. The general beneficent effect of Jewish immigration on Arab welfare is illustrated by the fact that the increase in Arab papulation is most marked in urban areas affected by Jewish development. Jews have been building in Haifa and Arab population has increased there by SO per cent between 1922 and 1931. Jews have built the c.ty of Tel-Aviv, adjoining the Arab city of Jaffa, and Jaffa's population in the same nineyear period increased 62 per cent. In the Arab towns, such as Nablus and Hebron, near which uo Jews live, the increase of the Arab population in the same period was only 7 per cent and at Gaza, there was a decrease of 2 per cent in the Arab population.

The Arabs have artificially been engineered into rebellion against the mandate, these same Arabs who were redeemed from apalling poverty and galling tyranny of the Turks, because the feudal landlords object to the improvement of the Arab masses at the cost of their own profits. The Arabs are incited by the Grand Mufti, ambitious for more power, who exploits a golden opportunity to parade himself before the Moslem world as the great defender of the faith.

The Arabs of Palestine have become the instrument by which the cardboard Caesar of Italy hopes to gain the goodwill of all the Arab-Moslem world. Mussolini requires that friendship to further his base and brazen designs of conquest along the shores of the Mediterranean.—N.A.N. A.