PALESTINE’S FOREBODINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 February 1937, Page 6

PALESTINE’S FOREBODINGS

FURTHER VIOLENCE THREATS Ernest Main, “Daily Telegraph” Special Correspondent in Palestine -t writes:-—' It is with mixed feelings that Palestine is looking forward at the opening of the New Year. Varying views are expressed in Jerusalem, but without being unduly alarmist it has to be reported that there is considerable disquiet about what may happen in this country within the next two on three months. The general expectation seems to be that March is likely to see a recrudescence of the disturbances. Arabs tell me that there will be no “strike” as there was last Summer — strikes being too costly, both as regards the maintenance of the strikers from political funds, and the. general loss to trade. An apparently permanent loss to Jaffa is represented by the new Jewish harbour at Tel Aviv that was built when the Jaffa Arabs first refused to handle ships, j What people expect is an outburst 1 of brigandage and terrorism as soonl as the citrus crops are gathered and the hot weather begins and the Royal I Commission shall have left the coun-| try. i

There are modern rifles by the dozen in every Arab village and encampment, and the Arabs openly say that unless their demands are complied with in their entirety the campaign of terrorism will spread through the whole country. The Arab demands are, of course, the abrogation of the mandate, the immediate and complete stoppage of Jewish immigration, and the prohibition by statute of all land-sales to Jews.

The third demand, it may be said, is a mere debating point, for the Government has proved beyond doubt that the number of dispossessed Arab families never exceeded 700. and these are now all settled elsewhere or are in urban employment, and do not wish to return to the land. Nor is more than about one-ninth of the area of the cultivable area of Palestine in Jewish ownership. The mandate is part of the public law of the world, and its abrogation is therefore out of the question. The demand for the stoppage of immigration Is the crux of the problem. The Arabs have been encouraged, by what they regard as British weakness, to believe that if they are only troublesome enough they will turn

British policy in their favour. There can be little doubt that resolute action would have effectively stopped last Summer’s disturbances within a very short time. But the army themselves, with picturesque imagery, admit that there was no resolute action. So do the police.

RAIDS ON THE ROADS i The Arabs, therefore, drew the conclusion that either the British authorii ties felt themselves too weak or it was British policy to give way to Arab pressure. The Jews could not believe - the former but feared that I the latter might be true. On either hypothesis the Arabs have come to the conclusion that the quickest way to attain their political objects in Palestine is by armed resistance to authority. There is from the police stahdpoint a “bad area” in the country—■ 'the Nablus-Jenin-Tulkarm triangle. ; This was a black spot even in Turkish I times, and the Turks could never be • suspected of weakness in handling ! subject territories. In this area the j politico-religious feeling is strong to J the point of fanaticism, and the surj rounding mountains provide a more ; than, adequate background for transI forming this feeling into action, j Action takes the form of raids by i parties of thieves and brigands upon cars that for any reason have not reached their destination by nightfall. ! As soon as the sun goes, barricades are set up across the road. When the cars slow down, the robbers emerge from behind the rocks where they have been hiding. They are invar- | iably armed and often masked. They relieve the occupants of the car or cars of their money and valuables and let them go. Normally there is no shooting unless resistance is offered.

This phase has .already been reached. Within the past few weeks there have been a number of hold-ups. It is only a few days since Lord Peel, the chairman of the Royal Commission, escaped a hold-up on the Jericho road, a favourite motor-run, within 45 minutes of Jerusalem.

This renewed activity of the highwaymen, on the very doorstep of authority, may be explained partly by the fact that there has been much greater traffic on the roads, but a further explanation is that the robber bands have been more active, and, having seen the number of troops in the country diminished by the withdrawal of the Fifth Division, they may be tempted to become more active still. At present the bandits are cheer-

fully impartial. They hold up any car they see and rob Arabs and Christians as .well as Jews. There was an extraordinary case in the Nablus area a fortnight or so ago, when the robbers’ victims included two members of the Abdul Hadi family, of whom the best-known is Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, the leader of the Arab Independence party and the right-hand man of the Mufti of; Jerusalem, who was the power behind last Summer’s disturbances.

BANDS NOT DISPERSED The cumulative effect of these incident is to undermine the sense of security of the general population. Everyone here is aware of the violent agitation which has been going on day after day in the Arab Press. The authorities occasionally suspend the papers for a few days, but it is evident that this is virtually no penalty, and consequently exercises no deterrent effect. Political agitators are also busily at work. The terrorist bands were not dispersed by the military after the strike had been called off, although adequate forces appeared to be available to disperse them, nor has any effective measure of disarmament been undertaken. Very few of those guilty of acts of piurder, assault and arson were caught during the disturbances. Moreover, the prosecution of the few that were apprehended has been notoriously ineffective.

A characteristic example is the case i of the murder of the German chauffeur, Gruenwald, fatally shot by an Arab, who only the other -week was acquitted by British judges on the ground that the evidence of identification given by a British police sergeant who witnessed the whole affair, was not corroborated. A well-known British resident said to me that what is needed to-day in Palestine is “less abstract justice and more commonsense.” In the nature of the case the Jews in Palestine are on the side of authority. Apart from that they base their demand that immigration must continue on the fact —which they seem, to any impartial observer, to have proved—that the principles on which they select their immigrants ensure that each batch of newcomers becomes as it were the economic foundation for another batch.' Jewish immigration, as it continues, is thus designedly calculated to increase the "economic absorptive capacity of the country” —which is the official gauge for the grant of further , immigration certificates. And the '

civilisation they are building .up is a European and not a Levantine civilisation. It follows that the local Hebrew Press has a logical case to present, and normally it presents its case calmly and objectively—so far as that is possible in an admitted partisan. The Arab Press, on the other hand, is shrill, vituperative and illogical. It has been playing a most unfortunate part in the way in which it has daily (with intervals of suspension) published incitements to violence, at times veiled, usually frank and free. Only the othei' day one paper called upon all Arabs to expel the “barbarian” Jews, and added, in a crescendo of hate, that the country would, if necessary, “be made one huge grave” and the dead would arise from the Moslem cemeteries to help in the process. '

No logical argument here, no attempt to disprove the Jewish contention that Jewish immigration has not merely brought more Arabs into the country, but is actually making them richer. Nothing but clamorous abuse which is specifically anti-British when it is not anti-Jewish, and is usually both at once.

All these newspaper incitements to violence are repeated daily in the mosques. At the Mosque of Omar the other day, when I was stopped at the entrance, a young effendi told me that this was my punishment for the help Britain was giving to the Jews. Childish arguments of this kind cannot be answered with reason. If there is any logical basis to the Arab case, it has so far not been put forward conspicuously. All one hears, in the Arab Press and in conversation with Arabs, is that the Jewish immigration must and will be stopped, if necessary by force. That is why trouble is expected to begin again in the Spring. Judging from the results already achieved by the Jewish agricultural settlers, Palestine could easily maintain a far larger population than at present —a population similar to that carried in ancient times before Arab and Turk began their centuries of neglect. The Arabs, who do not appear to be capable of either beginning or continuing such intensive efforts, nevertheless demand that the Jews must remain in a permanent < numerical minority. j

It is argued by the Jews that if Britain accepts this Arab view-point, then Mho continued presence of a British j garrison in Palestine will be the only bulwark against a massacre of the ' Jews. As it is, the coming Summer seems almost certain to witness a I widespread return to violence against

the Jews and incidentally against the British—that is, unless the authorities take a firmer grasp of the situation than was the case last Summer.