Palestine Government Charged with Arming Arabs and Inciting Them to Attack Jews

The serious accusation that the Palestine Government has been arming Arabs and inciting them to attack Jews, made by the secret radio of the Jewish resistance movement, has finally been brought into the open.

In the last few months there have been many reliable reports of such activity in the part of the Palestine Government, but those who were aware of them, and had investigated, were reluctant to aggravate the situation by writing an expose. Actually the story has not appeared in the Palestine newspapers, and the Government therefore have no reason to deny the charges. And, of course, the people who have the evidence about risk coming out into the open.

One authenticated instance of the administration’s efforts to create trouble between the Arabs and the Jews involves Abdulla Khalil el Sheikh, commander of a Hebron (##) which played a prominent role in the disturbances of 1936. Abdulla Khalil had been in hiding since 1936, but last year the Palestine authorities let it be known that they had no objection to his returning to Hebron, which he did.

At the same time, he received maguanimous assistance from the authorities in the may of agricultural machinery and livestock. Two months ago he was approached by Palestine Government agent and reminded of his obligations. At this time, the former Intern gang leader was asked to organize the Arabs in that area into an armed force for the purpose of “resistance to Jewish aggression.” Assurances were also given him that all the financial aid and the firearms and other equipment necessary would be forthcoming.

ARAB VILLAGERS RELUCTANT TO ENGAGE IN RIOTS; FEAR CONSEQUENCES

It is reported reliably that Abdulla Khalil el Sheikh at first was not too serious to assume that task. But finally he was convinced, and he is now organizing and training Arabs with modern weapons. Five weeks ago a deputy inspector of the Palestine police visited Kolonia, which is near Motza, a Jewish community not far from Jerusalem, and gathering all the Arab villagers together he told them that, according to trustworthy information, the Jews were preparing to attack the Arabs. He advised the Arabs to arm and not to await an attack but to go after the Jews themselves. The deputy inspector indicated that all the necessary arms were available. The villagers, however, did not stir, refusing to take the inspector seriously.

For the time being, the disinclination of the Arab villagers to become aroused and incited offers the most serious handicap to the plans of Palestine Government officials, whose only solution to the Palestine problem apparently is to set Arabs and Jews against one another. The inability of these officials to guarantee to the Arabs that no legal action would ever be taken against them, in the event of disorders, also helds back the Arabs.

Psychological warfare is also being used by the same Palestine Government officials. This correspondent has been leaflets, typegraphically excellent and in Arabic, which call upon the Arabs to be prepared to rise without delay. “The Jews are arming themselves to the teeth,” one such leaflet says. “The Jews plan to conquer Palestine and neighboring countries,” states another.

A whispering campaign also reveals that experienced manipulators are operating in Palestine among the Arabs, just as the Allies did against Germany, and vice versa. The most persistent of these rumors deal with King Ibn Saud–whispers about the size of the forces that Ibn Saud, ruler of Saudi Arabia, has ostensibly promised to send to the aid of the Palestine Arabs; and these whispers make the rounds of the Arab villages with well-organized regularity.

This line is necessary to arouse Palestine Arabs, who are still reluctant to fall in with the anti-Jewish schemes of mysterious visitors who say they are from the Government. When the Arabs in Nablus showed absolute apathy toward the “Jewish danger,” stories of Ibn Saud’s horizon-filling hordes, who were reportedly poised on their (##)ses ready to dash in on a holy crusade, immediately started to be spread among the villages in that area.

The Jewish underground radio, in discussing similar incidents and tactics, charges that the Palestine Government is trying to arrange outrages and attacks, with Arabs set against Jews, and Jews against Arabs, so that when the “two peoples of Palestine fight, the British will enter the fray and prevail over both sides, punish both sides and appear to be playing the role of impartial judge.”