With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign Part 25

His first act on taking command was to inform the Authorities of the Corps' existence, its arming, and its purpose. He even asked the Government for weapons, reminding them that rifles and ammunition had been issued to Jewish Colonists in Galilee under similar circ.u.mstances.

It must be remembered that the Jewish people in Palestine never gave the Authorities a moment's anxiety; on the contrary, they were most law-abiding citizens, who helped the British Administration in every conceivable way. They were astounded and mystified by the hostility displayed towards them by the local Military Administration, and it is not too much to say that they went in fear of their lives, for the hooligan element in the Arab quarter began to declare openly that they would slaughter them.

The day when an outbreak on the part of the cut-throats was expected was Friday, 2nd April, for on that date the celebrated "Nebi Musa"

procession was to take place. Moslems from all parts of Palestine meet once a year for prayer at the Mosque of Omar (built on the site of Solomon's temple), and then form a procession to the Tomb of Moses in the Jordan Valley, near the Dead Sea. The Moslem world holds Moses in great veneration as a Prophet, and believes that when he died on Mount Nebo, a Bedouin carried his body across the Jordan and buried it at the shrine now known as Nebi Musa, which is annually visited by thousands of Moslem pilgrims.

The day dreaded by the Jews pa.s.sed without incident, but in the light of what took place a couple of days later, I am inclined to think that this desirable result was achieved, not so much by the precautions taken by the Administration, as by those taken by the Jewish Self-Defence Corps, which was known to be held in readiness for all eventualities on that day.

On Sunday, 4th April, a belated crowd of pilgrims from Hebron approached the Holy City by the Jaffa Gate. Fanatical agitators posted themselves on the balcony of the Munic.i.p.ality Building and, for the s.p.a.ce of two hours, delivered brutally inflammatory speeches against the Jews to this mob, in the presence of British officials who understood Arabic. It must be remembered that these pilgrims were armed, and yet no attempt was made to suppress the agitators, although there was ample police and military strength available in the neighbourhood.

Immediately after the inflammatory speeches, acts of violence began.

I reproduce here extracts from a couple of letters which I received, giving graphic descriptions of the outbreak by eye-witnesses, one of them a Senior British Officer, not a Jew:

PALESTINE, 10TH APRIL, 1920.

MY DEAR COLONEL,

We are pa.s.sing through terrible and unprecedented times. Who could ever have thought that a pogrom "a la Russe," with all its horrors, could take place in Jerusalem under British rule! Who could ever have conceived that it should be possible, in the Holy City of Jerusalem, that for three days Jews, old and young, women and children could be slaughtered; that rape should be perpetrated, Synagogues burnt, scrolls of the Law defiled, and property plundered right and left, under the banner of England!

The anti-Jewish feeling of the Administration here you, of course, know all about, as you have experienced it yourself, but latterly the notorious _Syria Genuba_ (an Arab daily in Jerusalem) printed day after day inflammatory articles against the Jews....

Anti-Jewish demonstrations were allowed to take place and inflammatory speeches were allowed to be made against the Jews.

The evil men amongst the Arabs openly declared that they would slaughter the Jews at the Festival of Nebi Musa. The Government was warned by the Jewish press, and by Jewish responsible leaders, but these were not listened to, and, as a matter of fact, the Feast was proclaimed with great pomp, Lord Allenby and Major-General Louis Jean Bols, the Chief Administrator, being present....

(Signed) XX.

PALESTINE, 11TH APRIL, 1920.

MY DEAR COLONEL,

... with my wife I went up to Jerusalem to spend the Easter week-end, and a very nice week-end it surely was! Long before this letter reaches you, you will have learned something of the happenings in the Holy City, but as my wife and I saw the first blow struck, and had very personal experience of the immediately ensuing bother, you may be interested.

The happenings here have raised all sorts of questions, and while for the moment the trouble is over, I fear the end is not yet.

On the morning of Easter Sunday we were standing on the balcony of the New Grand Hotel watching the progress of an Arab procession just arrived from Hebron. As the procession reached the entrance to the Jaffa Gate it just had the appearance of the usual show of this kind--a bit noisy, but apparently well-behaved. It was escorted by two officers of the Military Administration and a few of the Arab police. All at once the members of the procession formed themselves into a square, just inside the gate, and the first thing we saw then was an old Jew, about 70 years of age, get his head split open with an Arab's sword, and as soon as he was down he was stoned; within a few minutes a lot more Jews got like treatment. By this time the crowd was well out of hand and rushed quickly into the old City looting and killing, and a few hours afterwards there was a steady evacuation of battered Jews. There was no military present.

The following day the trouble started again, and a lot more were injured, and the third morning there was more looting and more casualties, and then at last the military took strong steps and the trouble was at an end.

Yours sincerely, (Signed) E.N.

In less than half an hour from the beginning of the outbreak, two companies of the Self-Defence Corps marched to the Jaffa and Damascus Gates to a.s.sist in quelling the disturbance within the walls, but they found the gates closed to them and held by British troops. It is very significant that within a few minutes of the commencement of the pogrom, British troops held all the gates of the city, with explicit orders to allow no one in and _no one out_--not even helpless women, fleeing from the horrors that were being enacted in the Jewish quarter, unless they held special permits.

For nearly three days the work of murder, rape, sacrilege, and pillage went on practically unchecked--all under British rule. There is only one word which fittingly describes the situation, and that is the Russian word "pogrom." It means a semi-lawful attack on Jews. The a.s.sailants believe that they may murder, rape, burn and loot to their hearts'

content, with the silent blessing of the authorities, and it is a very significant fact that all through this Jerusalem pogrom the hooligans'

cry was "_El dowleh ma ana,_" which means "_The Government is with us._"

The attackers were absolutely convinced of the truth of their battle cry.

During these three terrible days several Jews were killed, hundreds were wounded (many of these being old men, women and children), rape was perpetrated, Synagogues were burnt, and tens of thousands of pounds worth of Jewish property was looted or destroyed.

The pogrom was confined to that part of Jerusalem within the walls of the old City, where the Moslems greatly outnumber the Jews--in fact the latter are here a small and helpless minority. They take no part in politics, not even in political Zionism, but are absorbed in religious practices and observances, and abhor all things worldly. Even self-defence is repellent to them, and all forms of violence anathema.

These harmless people dwell in half-a-dozen narrow tortuous streets and bazaars, in one corner of the old City. This Jewish quarter is quite easy to defend. A few armed men posted at the narrow entrances could hold any mob at bay. Why did not the military authorities see that this was done? It was not until the third day that effective action was taken. In the meantime, h.e.l.l was let loose on these unfortunate people.

Even the wretched few who got to the City gates, unless they possessed special permits, were refused permission to escape and were forced to return to the devilries being enacted by the murdering, raping, looting mob.

It is a black page in our history, and those responsible should not be allowed to escape just punishment.

To cover their own blunders the local Administration looked round for a scapegoat, and arrested Jabotinsky and some score members of the Jewish Self-Defence Corps.

Jabotinsky was tried on a ridiculous charge of "banditism, instigating the people of the Ottoman Empire to mutual hatred, pillage, rapine, devastation of the country, and homicide in divers places"--in fact the Ottoman penal code was ransacked to trump up these absurd charges against him. Jabotinsky had been guilty of nothing except that he had organised the Self-Defence Corps with the full knowledge of the authorities, many weeks before the outbreak, and it was owing to the existence of this Corps that the pogrom did not take much more serious dimensions. By far the greater part of the Jews, and practically all the Zionist Jews, dwell outside the old City in the modern part of Jerusalem, and it would naturally be upon these that the mob would have fallen, but not a Jewish house outside the City walls was raided, for the simple reason that the Jewish Self-Defence Corps was there and ready to act.

The Self-Defence Corps did nothing whatever against the British Authorities, and many members of it were in fact used by the Administration to police the environs of the City. Nevertheless, a British Military Court, which publicly stated that it would be bound by no rules of procedure, was found, which convicted Jabotinsky, and inflicted upon him the savagely vindictive sentence of FIFTEEN YEARS'

PENAL SERVITUDE!

This trumping up of the preposterous charges mentioned is a disgrace to British Justice, and the whole history of this atrocious outrage is a foul stain on our fair fame.

It may be noted in pa.s.sing that two Arabs caught raping Jewish girls during the pogrom received the same sentence as Jabotinsky, whose only crime was that he was a Jew.

Jabotinsky was cast into prison, clothed in prison garb, had his hair cropped, and was marched in company with the two Arabs convicted of rape through Jerusalem and Kantara, places where he was well known as a British officer. Even the worst Hun that we have read of could hardly have exceeded the savagery and tyranny shown by the Military Authorities of the E.E.F. towards Jabotinsky, an officer who fought stoutly for us and helped England and her cause in every possible way to the full extent of his power during the War.

Of course a storm of public indignation was aroused. In fact one of our leading Statesmen, on seeing the telegram announcing the barbarous sentence, was heard to remark:--

"The Military in Palestine must have gone mad."

The matter was raised in the House of Commons, and Mr. Churchill, who was then Secretary of State for War, was called upon to make a statement. The War Office took action and, in a very short time, the sentence was annulled.

It apparently required this outrage to open the eyes of the Home Government to what was going on in Palestine. As soon as they realised the situation, matters began to move in the right direction, and one of the first steps taken was the removal of the Military Administration which had failed so hopelessly to carry out the policy of the Imperial Government.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

THE DAWN.

While Jerusalem was yet plunged in sorrow and filled with lamentation, the glad tidings arrived from San Remo that the Allied Council had endorsed England's promise of a National Home for the Jews in Palestine, and that Great Britain had been appointed the Mandatory Power.

England, to emphasize her determination to deal justly with Israel, wisely decided that the ruler of Palestine should be a Jew, and appointed Sir Herbert Samuel as first High Commissioner of the Holy Land.

When the great roll-call is made of those who have helped in bringing about the Restoration, the name of Baron Edmund de Rothschild will take a high and honourable place. His boundless munificence to the Zionist cause and to the Zionist Colonists in Palestine has helped the movement enormously.

Palestine will loom larger and larger in world importance as the years roll by. We have seen that it is the very keystone of our policy in the Near and Far East, and when it is colonized by a friendly people working hand in hand with England then the vexed question of our interests in those regions will be solved.

There is plenty of room in Palestine for both Jew and Arab, and, in fact, one is the complement of the other. At present there are about 650,000 Arabs in the country, but when Palestine is watered and tilled and made a fruitful country once again, it will support a population of five or six millions of people.

Not only would the Jews not injure the Arabs, but, on the contrary, Jewish colonization and Jewish enterprise will prove extremely beneficial to all the dwellers in Palestine.

The Jewish immigrants now going into the country are full of boundless enthusiasm, ready to work and give even life itself to bring about the reconstruction of their ancient Homeland.