A BEDOUIN RAID.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17632, 8 December 1922, Page 12

A BEDOUIN RAID.

. « PALESTINE CAMEL STEALING. ! THE WAYS OF THE SHEIKS. From time immemorial it has been the custom of the nomads of the Arabian deserts to make periodic raids into the sown lands of Palestine, and usually these raids havo come up from the Jordan fords just below the bea of Galilee through the valley that leads from Beisan (Beth Shan) to Zenn (Jezreel). Now that Great Britain, in her turn, is responsible lor tho peace of Palestine, she, too, has to bo ready to hold this gateway, as did her numerous predecessors in their days—Canaamtes, Egyptians, Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, (Syrians, Romans, Byzantines, rieljuks, Crusaders, Saracens, and Ottomans. Modern weaoons and transport, wireIpss, and the armoured cars may havo altered the tactics of tho defence (writes "The Times" correspondent at Jerusalem), but now, .as ever, an unceasing watchfulness is required, and wfy in which the Palestine police i dealt with a, recent raid shows how efficient that little force has become. Some time in June of this year, some of the Wahabi bandits of Ibn baud raided the Rualla, whose headquarters is on the bills east of the Lake or Galilee, at Kefr Hareb-. Many camels were cantured, and were sold to another tribe, the Argeil.. Then peace was made, and one of its conditions was that Rualla should buy back thencamels from tho Argeil at half the price that had been paid for them, lhe Argeil arrived in the Jordan \ alley with a large herd of camels, and proceeded to graze them there; they intended to go on to Egypt and sell them there. The Rualla also came down into the valley to graze camels, and recognised some of their former camels in the Argeil herd. A council was gathered of the two; beards wagged; . there was no denial that these were the camels, and they were being sorted cut from the rest into a separate herd while the bargaining went on. But.now-it occurred to some of the Rualla—in 11} pay? We are tho more numerouslet us take our own property. Such was the position about dawn. All tins was quite close to Semakh. Camel Stealers. Meantime, in the earlier hours of that night it aonears that a large party of armed Ituaflas, mostly on camels, had entered British territory from eastof Jordan, passed Semakh and Dogania, and mado off "with sixty camels. One of the owners met a police patrol, told his casfe; and these three Arab policemen at once pursued; shots were exchanged, and tbey recovered the camels. The offenders made off homeward. When word was brought to Semakh, an armoured car was sent out and a squadron of cavalry; and these encountered not the original raiders, but the Ruallas, who were beginning to make things hot for the Argeil in the matter of the stolen camels. These men 'are all armed: there is no lack of rifles and ammunition east of the answer to challenges in Arabic wal rifle shots; and in a very short timo a brwk fight developed with the armoured car, and a confused huddle of men arid camels making oft to the Eastern hills. Five Arabs wero killed, one wounded (who died later), and one unwounded prisoner was taken. Camels scattered in all directions in the Jordan V alley. Mounted and unmounted police were sent out to cut off the retreat of the Yarmuk; sniping continued for some time from the bills. But the promptitude and well calculated action of the police had been completely successful. The subsequent proceedings illustrate the psychology of the Bedouin and the task of the frontier officer and Governor. Directly the word spread, of the affray, one Sheikh, of the Ruallas hastened down from Kefr Hareb to see the British authorities, expressing himself astounded at the British action; 1 but later he expressed regret that his tribe had caused trouble, and hoped the Government would take a lenient view of it, hand back the camels that were Wandering in the Jordan Valley,; and release the prisoner. He was told that the camels might be collected, but be must give the names of those responsible for the raid. It appeared that the Ruallas were deeply concerned at the death of one man, a noted fighter, named Jubran el Ganafeh; and later on in the story (for several more Sheikhs came into it, all of them full of astonishment at the "drastic and brutal action of the British—and over such a could so easily have been adjusted if the! British "had merely complained"), they adopted the simple plan of putting the whole blame on this redoubtable Jubran. But he had not meant to do anything "wrong; certainly not; it was merely a case that the Rualla had a right to collect a tax of two piastres per camel from all who lived in their territory; the Argeil were evading payment; Jubran merely intended to aoixe a couplo of camels as compensation. ; "Manned by Jews." Finally enters a Very haughty person indeed, a Rualla sub-Sheikh. He came to see the British authorities, and took a 'high tone. Ohlv for the traditional friendliness of his people with the British his men would show them what would happen. , If it had been anyone else five thousand of his warriors would have been over tho frontier already. As it was, he could hardly hold them back; and he must have an answer at once and a full agreement to his demands, or down they would come. Th© British must at once give compensation, not only for the camels that had been killed or lost, but also compensation to the relatives of the dead men; the prisoner must at once be restored, and the camels and the captured arms and ammunition. "My men," he said, "are headstrong and wild; I cannot hold them long. IT 1 do not get an answer in tnree days, then send a force to the frontier, if you like, and j see what will happen." And at the J tail of his words came an indication !of what the Arabs believe, and what ! makes any such defeat as this very I galling to them: "We all know that 1 your armoured cars are not manned by 1 British but by Jews."