ON THE EVE OF WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26780, 25 May 1948, Page 5

ON THE EVE OF WAR

The Arab Forces Assemble

This article was written by a British special correspondent in Palestine on the eve of the ending of the Mandate and the withdrawal of the British forces. For the Daily Times By Charles Foley.

The explosion each day now grows louder, even before the British have moved out, even before the Colonial Office, which for 20 years has spent four-fifths of its thought on Palestine, has fully realised that less arid tasks of statesmanship await it. Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Mecca —through the Islamic capitals a drawstring is being pulled tight to strangle the Jewish State at its birth. From the north the Syrians, who have been over-run by successive conquerors since the days of Alexander the Great, are preparing in their turn to invade. Their 10.000 troops, equipped with British and French ’ arms, are a doubtful factor in this new role. From the west come the Egyptians, recently reorganised and rearmed, as well they might, be. Palestine Jews delight in recalling the war-time story of the American correspondent who, when Rommel was at the gates of Alexandria, received from New York a demand for 1000 words on whether'the Egyptian Army would be used to stop the Germans. His reply read simply: “No no, a thousand times no! ” The threat from the east is more serious, and the position of Glubb Pasha, the British officer who has raised and trained the crack Trans-

jordan forces, may soon be a delicate one. Up in Amman, the mountain capital of King Abdullah, which is only a couple of hours’ drive from the Allenby bridge, which takes you into Palestine, Mhjor-general Glubb turned out during the war a stream of troops for the fronts in Syria and Iraq. All through the day young fighting men arrive on foot and horseback at Glubb's H.Q. to join the fabled Arab Legion and to learn the marvels of mechanised warfare. Glubb. the modern Lawrence of Arabia, has a bullet-holed chin, a clear, donnish accent, and an Arab “ rosary ” of amber beads which he clicks continuously through his fingers as he talks. But it is not only the Arab Legion —with or without Glubb and its other British officers—which threatens to sweep down to Allenby bridge and across th? Jordan. Iraqi motorised troops are said to be already on their way to join hands with King Abdullah, and the redoubtable King Ibn Saud has also been granted brotherly permission by Abdullah to bring his Saudi Arabian warriors across Transjordan in the common cause. The'more allies, you will say, the more confusion, while the age-old rivalries of the Middle East may bring the whole Islamic expedition into danger. But news from Amman suggests that a degree of close co-ordination has been reached—each army being allotted its own zone of operation, and eventual occupation, with a centralisation of the high command. What resources can the Jews pit against the converging menace of Islam from without at a time when thev have their hands already full in dealing with the Palestinian Arabs? First, they claim superior brain power, organisation. and discipline. Secondly, the Jewish command probably has a better supply of munitions, with access to supply ports for reinforcements—the Egyptian fleet’s “blockade” is likely to be flimsy. Finally, the Jews have a sense of boundless confidence. “ Don't think of the coming war in terms of a newspaper cartoon showing a helpless Jew being pursued by an Arab horseman with a knife between his teeth,” I was told in Tel-Aviv. “You can leave the Arabs to us. After all. the British, with a couple of brigades and only average luck, cleaned up the whole of Traci during the Raschid Ali revolt in 1941. Anri if our ramshackle neighbouring Arab States join in against us you won’t stop the Jewish Army much short of the Persian Gulf.”