REBEL ARAB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1939, Page 5

REBEL ARAB

PALESTINE’S STORMY PETREL LEADER OF AN ARMY. TERRIBLE DRAMA IN HOLY LAND. “You see those men, at the top of that hill? They are Fawzi Kaukji’s soldiers.” ‘‘See this machine-gun bullet? That’s from Fawzi Kaukji.” ‘■Those Arabs manoeuvre well. They must belong to Fawzi Kaukji’s army.” “The attack on that farm was brilliantly directed. It must have been organised by Fawzi Kaukji.” Blackened ruins of farms and plantations, the crackling of machine-guns and the rumble of tanks in desert regions of the Palestine frontier—these are. the. scenery and music of the terrible drama, now being played out in the Holy Land, with Fawzi Kaukji as hero and villain (writes Edmond Demaitre in Vu, Paris). From his Excellency Sir Harold Mac Michael. representative of His Britannic Majesty, down to the Yemenite boy who sells papers in front of the. Jerusalem post office, there is no one who does not know the name, of this mysterious Syrian or who has not heard of the legendary exploits, of this adventurer who takes the rank and style of “liberator” and “natipnal hero.”

“FUHRER OF THE ARABS.” The English, who know by experience what can come of the appearance in a Moslem country of a strong man acting the triple role of dictator, ascetic and warrior, have made great efforts to end the romantic career of this Fawzi Kaukji, whom his friends and admirers compare with the Mahdi of the Sudan, the Mad Mullah of Somaliland, or the notorious Fakir • of Ipi. But, unfortunately for the peace of Palestine, their efforts have, been in vain, for the “Fuhrer of the Arabs” —the title which the rebels have conferred upon Fawzi Kaukji—is not only fully conversant with the laws of strategy and tactics, but also knows how to evade the watchful and cunning secret agents and spies who exist in their hundreds in all the towns and villages of the Near East. Several times he has almost‘fallen into his enemies’ hands, but he always manages to escape—thanks his profound ..nowledge of the desert and countless friends in all the Arab centres between Bagdad and the Hadramaut.

INCREDIBLE SPEED. He is here, there, and everywhere He moves about the Beduin country with incredible speed, and it often happens that he is discovered in an o,asis 100 or 150 miles away in the interior three days after his. presence has beer notified bn the frontier. Even among his own followers ho one knows for certain where he is, and sometimes members of the Intelligence Department send notification of his presence at three different places o.n the same day. The secrecy in which he wraps his movements is fully justified; he is sought by the Syrian police and the English authorities in 'Palestine' and Transjordan, not to mention the Ikhwans of King Ibn Saud, who also have an account to settle with him. If he should take it into his head to end his days, he has only to choose—a Syrian firing squad is waiting for him, the executioner at the Acre prison in Palestine would like to meet’ him, and if he were unlucky enough to be captured in Saudi Arabia, he could be certain of having his head chopped off by the Lord of Hejaz and Nejd in person!

IN THE MOUNTAINS. According to British information, the Arab fuehrer leads a force of | three or four thousand men among the i almost inaccessible mountains and deserts of northern Palestine; a large enough force if the geographical and political obstacles in the way of the work of pacification are taken into account. Fawzi Kaukji knows those difficulties, and cleverly makes the most of them. Although his mountaineers and nomads urge him to undertake operations on a large scale, he iias kept enough aqthority up till now to restrain their zeal and to avoid a pitched battle, which would, without doubt, mean the end of his desert revolt. He believes that his campaign in Palestine will end in the liberation of all Moslems, and so he prefers to gain time rather than battles. Moreover, he has chosen guerilla warfare and a war of attrition in the hope that his foes will finally get tired of the sudden dashes, skirmishes, and raids with which they are unceasingly harassed by his bands. He has invented war by night in Palestine. As silent as tigers stalking their prey, his Beduins appear—no one knows where from —out of the night and vanish again like ghosts as soon as the first rays of the sun redden the skyline. A.nd in aie lonely Palestine hills houses burnt down, plantations destroyed, dead bodies horribly mutilated, are the sign mat Fawzi Kaukji has passed that way ...

Muscular, rather stout, and of medium height, the Arab fuehrer is pleasant enough to look at when he bestndes his curvetting horse at the nead of his wild warriors, in his Arab ournous and headdress. On the other iiand, when he wears his “European” -uixxorm —which is a mixture of an -iipme Chasseur’s uniform, Herr Hitler’s dress, and the rig-out of an English peer stag-hunting, in Scotland—ne looks more like a peanut vendor going to a fancy dress ball. MANY PHOTOGRAPHS.

You will ask perhaps how I can possibly describe in such detail the appearance of the unknown phantom which is Fawzi Kaukji. It is very simple. Following the example of his German prototype, the Arab fuehrer, Knowing the value of propaganda, has missed no opportunity of having himself photographed in a striking pose. I have had the pleasure of seeing how well a guerilla chieftain photographs at the information service bureau in Jerusalem; I have seen photographs of rawzi Kaukji reviewing his troops, mailing with his lieutenants, studying a map, and even asleep (that’s some--iiing Hitler and Goebbels haven’t mought of yet!). These photographs are distributed in thousands and thousands throughout all the countries over which Fawzi Kaukji hopes one day to extend his sway. It is clear from this that the Arab fuehrer is in no way like his contemporaries the Emir Abdulla, the exMufti of Jerusalem, or King Ibn Saud. While Lawrence, Philby, or Glubb managed by means of clever acting to turn themselves from Europeans into Beduins, Fawzi Kaukji has turned himself in many ways from a Beduin into a European.

UNSOLVED MVSTEpY,

It is easy to understand how Fawzi Kaukji has been able so to transform himself from Beduin warrior into

“European” dictator when his history is known. His youth w; s p I Syria, then he entered the Turkish 'army, and was sent to Constanunupic for an officer’s course. His activities during the World War are an unsolved mystery; according to some. ho i fought in the Sultan's army and was promoted captain a few months before the defeat of the Turkish forces, while others say that he deserted to the Allies and had some connections with Lawrence of Arabia. However that may be, it is known that he appeared in Syria and put himself at I the head of the rebels there just after the War. Imprisoned in the Jebcl Druse by a French patrol, he was condemned to death by a military court, but managed to escape a few hours before ihe time fixed for his execution. Then for a few years he disappeared again. He lived concealed in the Syrian hinterland, organising resistance among rebel tribes. When

I ’ — ’ I France began the pacification of the country he vanished again, turning up at Bagdad, where King Feisal gave him a post in the Iraq army. But it was not likely that this hotblooded adventurer would be content to end his days in peace at Bagdad. Hardly was he settled in the Iraq capital when he became involved in a Pan-Arab conspiracy and had to flee. However. Arabia is a large country, and its sheiks and emirs were well able to use the military and diplomatic services of a farmer captain of the Turkish, army. Later he offered his services to King Ibn Saud, and for several years he pursued a quiet life organising the Saudi Arabian forces. The Lord of Nejd heaped favours upon him until he discovered that Fawzi Kaukji, still haunted by the dream of an Arab empire, was the force behind the revolt of Ibn Rafadi of the Billis tribe which brought fire and sword to the area between Saudi Arabia and

Transjordan. The Syrian escaped from the Ikhwans of Ibn Saud, who swore to exact a terrible vengeance. Fakzi Kaukji went next to the Emir Abdulla, who, though he declined to accept his services, allowed him to settle in Transjordan. There, in a miserable village on the of the Jordan. Fawzi Kaukji awaited his opportunity. OPPORTUNITY CAME. It came when the first rifle shots , crackled in Palestine. He crossed the Jordan and put himself at the head of the bands of marauding brigands who were harassing the English patrols. A brilliant organiser full of energy, as ambitious as any condottiere, and as fanatical as the most pious mullah or dervish, he quickly succeeded in transforming Ihe Beduin hordes that gathered round him in a regular army, with an iron discipline. And, at the head of this army, he has held the ' I

whole of the interior of northern Palestine for almost a year. What is his aim? Is he merely defending the cause of the Palestinian Arabs, or is he trying to lay the foundation of a new Arab empire? Is the campaign ho has waged for so long the last phase of the Palestinian conflict or the first act of a new Near East drama? No one knows. The only certainty is this: all the kings, emirs, effendis, muftis, and sheiks who now infest the borders of Palestine will in the end have to come to a “showdown" with him, for. like all other fuehrers, be they of the East or of the West, Fawzi Kaukji is firmly convinced that, after Allah and his Prophet, it is himself and himself alone who possesses the right and the strength to become the unquestioned master of all Arabs, or perhaps of all tiue believers.