LIFE TO-DAY IN PALESTINE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22444, 4 July 1938, Page 15

LIFE TO-DAY IN PALESTINE

Outward Normality Continues

DECEPTIVE CALM HIDES RACIAL TENSION

evaou oc* ow» ooaaKßPoaosirr.) LONDON, May 28. To the British Government the sequence of commissions which have visited Palestine since the war seem, no doubt, a steady fulfilment of the mandate; to the inhabitants of' that country they have assumed a cycle as familiar as its religious festivals (writes Aidan Crawley in the “Daily Telegraph’’). Boycott follows announcement and bomb-throwing the giving of evidence with seasonal regularity, and though both Arabs and Jews may wish it, it is improbable that the Partition Commission now pursuing its labours in the Country will end the sequence. Meanwhile, what is life in Palestine like? Is it normal, or is it life in a civil war? The experiences of a film unit which recently spent six months travelling up and down the country photographing Arabs of every type, from Bedouins to members of the former Moslem Supreme Council, and as many Jews as would break the law against graven images, are a good answer. That the films could be taken at all prove that for most of the population and most of the time life in Palestine is normal. Crops are sown and harvested, men are daily in the fields and women in the market, buses, both Arab and Jewish, run regularly, and, by an arrangement peculiar to the country, in a taxi shared with two or

three others you can travel 100 miles in a morning for half a crown. A Superficial Verdict

It takes half an hour to cash a cheque at the main bank in Jerusalem and sometimes longer to send a telegram, and the languages in the queue vary from Lithuanian to Persian with a very small common stock of English. Tourists who see all this and miss the minor incidents of life frequently come to the conclusion that the so-called ‘‘disturbances’* are largely the invention of newspapers and propagandists and that there is really little wrong with the country at all. That Is an exaggeration. On approximately 300 days in the year, in face of the overwhelming force of the mandatory Power, Arabs and Jews live peaceably together at close quarters. On the other 65 days “incidents,” bomb outrages and minor battles occur. These are neither heard nor seen by the great majority of the population; they read of them only in the newspapers, and their lives are therefore little more affected than ours in England by the daily records of deaths on the road or in the air. Trivial abnormalities, on the other hand, happen almost hourly and affect everybody. For instance, there is the question of clothes. Clothes have always been a problem in Palestine because, as the guide hooks tell you, you may sunbathe by the Dead Sea in a temperature of 100 degrees in the shade, .and an hour later need a fur coat in Jerusalem. But at the moment it is more than a question of being protected from the weather. The two women of our party had decided on kilted skirts and light shirts as camp dress and went to market in them on their first day. The market was Arab and they noticed an unfriendly atmosphere. Irritating Incidents

On their return they met an English resident, who told them that unless they wore full skirts and long sleeves, whatever the weather, they would undoubtedly be shot at. A similar experience In the same week resulted in a red-headed Canadian cameraman being ejected from Arab orange groves near Jaffa. After that we knew. Among Arabs we wore coats if possible, or, if not, regulation shirts, collars and ties. The women wore cotton dresses. Among Jews short-sleeved open-necked shirts shorts, or trousers served for both Sexes and made for friendliness. This attitude towards clothes is

symptomatic of the general uncertainty which exists among Arabs as to what la and is not a Jew. Fair hair and blue eyes are so common in Zionists that not even the most blatant Anglo-Saxon can prove his identity. In Tiberias, where thepopulation is about half-Jewlsh. half-Arab. I came out at a Jewish chemist’s shop one morning, crossed the road to an Arab barber, and -was rudely refused a shave. “Inglese, Inglese, mafish Yehudi,” I said, pointing to my face. "Maflsh inglese,” replied the barber, pointing to some Zionists walking down the street, “Enta Yehudi. Yallah!*’ —which means ‘‘get out" 1 went to another barber round the comer and out of sight; of the chemist's, and was shaved in cold water, which was net an Insult bat simply the way Arabs prefer it

Outward Normality of life The outward normality of life in Palestine makes incidents such as. these irritating rather than frightening. Day after day one secs Jews and Arabs working together in Government departments. In the orange groves, in the docks and railway stations. Arab Customs officials examine Jewish immigrants at the ports; Arab policemen accompany British on their rounds among the Jewish colonies and are hospitably received by. the colonists. In Jerusalem Arabs use Jewish shops and Jews go . daily through the Arab city to the Walling Wall. In the north of Palestine we came across an instance of real and effective co-operation. Some Jews with whom we dined in a village near the frontier, after bemoaning the distance to Jerusalem and the lack of amusement, admitted in compensation that “business” was good. We asked what business. "Smuggling.” they said, “We smuggle salt and sugar into Syria. The Arabs round here are very good people. They go across the mountain (Hermon) at night and carry about 200 sacks a week on their backs. They-rely on Us for their business and we are very good friends.” And as we were going to Mount Hermon they gave us introductions to some villagers who lived on its slopes, which proved what they said so far as their friendship was concerned. An account of a bomb outrage in Jerusalem which we read in the ‘‘Palestine Post” next day, seemed curiously unreal.