A BEDOUIN RAID

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 133, 2 December 1922, Page 24

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 maka periodic raids into the sown lands of Palestine, and , usually 1 these raids have come up from the Jor : dan fords just below tho Sea of Galilee through the valley that ■ leads from Beisan (Beth Shan) to Zerin (Jezreel). Now that Great Britain, io her turn, is responsible for the peace of Palestine, she, too, has to be ready to hold this gateway, as did hex numerous predecessors in t^fcix days—Canaanites, Egyptians, Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Syrians, Bomana, Byzantines, Seljuks, Crusaders, Saracens, and Ottomans.

Modern weapons and transport, wireless, and the armoured cars may have altered the tactics of the defence (writes " The Times " correspondent at Jerusalem), bat now, at; ever, -an unceasing watchfulness is required, and the way in which the Palestine police 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 Sand raided the Eualla, whose 1 headquarters is on the hills east of the Lake of Galilee, at Kefr Hareb. Many camels were captured, and were sold to another tribe, the Argeil. Then peace was made, and one of its conditions was that Eualla should buy back their camels from the Argeil at' half the price that had been paid for them. The Argeil arrived in the Jordan Valley 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 tho 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 out from the rest into a separate herd while the bargaining went on. But now it occurred to some of the Rualla— why pay? We are the more numerous— let us take our own property. Such was the position about dawn. ' All' this was quite close to Semakh.

4 CAMEL STEALERS.; ; Meantime, in the earlier hours of that night, it appears that a large party of armed .Ruallas, mostly on camels, had entered British, territory from east of Jordan, passed Semakh and Dogania, and made off with sixty camels. One of the owners met a police patrol, told his case; and these three Arab policemen at once pursued; shots were exchanged, and they 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 tLe Bual'as, 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 Jordan; the answer to challenges in Arabic was rifle shots; and in a very short time a brisk fight developed with the armoured car, and a confused huddle of men and camels making off to the Eastern hills. Five Arabs were killed, one wounded (who died later), and one unwounded prisoner was taken. Camels scattered in all directions in the Jordan Valley. Mounted and unmounted police were sent out to cut off the retreat to the- Yarmuk; sniping continued for some time from the hills. But tho prOmpitude and wellcalculated 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; but later ho 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 he 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 tho 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 trifle—it couldi so easily have been adjusted if the British had merely complained 1*) 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 seize a couple of camels as compensation.

"MANNED BY JEWS." ■ enters a very haughty person indeed, a Rualla sub-Sheikh. He came to see the British authorities, and took a high tone. Only for the traditional friendliness of his people with ,the British his men would show them what would happen; If it had been anyone elsa five thousand, of his warriors would have been over the frontier already. As it was, lie could hardly hold them back; and he must have aD answer at once and a full agreement to his demands, or down they would come. The British must at once give compensation, notonly for the camels thai had been kiljed or lost hut 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,' 1 he said, ":tre headstroag and wild; I cannot hold them long. If I do not get an answer in three days, then send a force to the frontier, if you like, and see what will happen." And at the tail of his words came an indication of what the Arabs believe, and what makes any such defeat as this very galling to them : "We all know that your armoured care are not manned by British but by Jews."