Palestine: A Modern History (ص 95)

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Palestine: A Modern History (ص 95)

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200 The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-1939
developments in the Palestine situation:
The Secretary of State for the Colonies observed that ‘the Govern-
ment were faced with a most serious situation both in‘ Palestine and
in the Near East and at home. As a result of the events of the last
few days, the whole Jewish world was in a turmoil. Mr Lloyd George
and others.svere showing increased anxiety, and Mr Attlee wished
Parliament to be specially summoned‘?
At the end of their meeting the Cabinet resolved that ‘intensive
measures, designed to crush Arab resistance, should be takeh, and that
for this purpose ‘the: troops in Palestine should be reinforced. by a
complete division sent from héme, and that at an apptopriate moment
martial law should be applied either to the whole of Pdlestirie or to
selected parts thereof’.
Five days after the Cabinet’s decision to crush the rebellion the
Colonial Office issued a rigorous statement regarding the ‘direct
challénge to the authority of the British government in Palestine’.
The British Government, the Colonial Office asserted, had made several
attempts at reasonable conciliation t6 no avail. Their patience was-now
exhausted and the’state of disorder must be brought to an end without
delay. An additional division of troops was being sent to Paléstine
arid ‘Lieutenant-Genéral J.G. Dill would assume the supreme military
command. *
Three days after this uncompromising announcement Wauchope
saw Hajj Amin, Ragheb, Nashashibi and ‘Awni ‘Abdul Hadi individually,
before the Higher Cotfimittee met to discuss the Jatest British move.
According to “Wauchope the Arab leaders were ready ,to urge
céssation bf acts of disorder and td call off ‘without any precedent
condition if so requested by Arab Kings’.%°'
On the following day, the Highér Committeé published a manifesto
which referred to the Arabs’ loss of confidence inthe usefulness of
conintissions of enquiry and refuted the Govériinent’s claim that the
Arab‘Kings and statesmen had: offered their mediation as a’ result of
a tequest to do so by the Palestinian leaders. Significantly, the nfanifesto
added that the Atabs’ reverence for their Kings was well known and it
Was unthinkable for the Palestinians not to act in ftarmony with this
particular tradition. The: mediatiot’ of the Arab Kings, the' manifesto
asserted, was the. best solution to the problem.*! Kawukji issued a
manifesto the same effect, despite the. fact that ‘large numbets of the
population are perfectly ready to contihue the fighting, more especially
The Great Palestine Revolt: 1936-1939 201
as they receive assistance in men and arms from over the border’.*?
These conciliatory, declarations notwithstanding, the British rein-
forcements: began to‘arrive in Palestine on 22 ‘September, boosting the
number of British troops in the country to over 20,000 and extensive
operations were immediately undertaken to crush the rebels. The last
week of September and the first ten days of October witnessed the
sharpest battles, in the 1936 rebellion, between the British troops and
. the:Arab rebels.
Towards the end of September a delegation from the Higher
Committee set off to confer with Ibm Sa‘ud and on 29 September
‘Awni ‘Abdul Hadi went to Trans-Jordan to interview “Abdullah. As a
result of these contacts and in accordance-with prior tonsultations with
the British Government Ibn Sa‘ud, King: Glazi:of [raq and ‘Abdullah
despatched, on 10 Gctober, an identically worded appeal to call off
the strike and discontinue the rebellign arid ‘rely on the good intentions
of our friend Great Britain, who tds dectared that she will do justice’.
The End of the First Phase
On the following day the Higher Committee published the appeals of
the Arab rulers and announced that after obtaining the approval of the
National Committees they had decided to call upon the noble Arab
nation in Palestine to resort to quietness and to put an end to the Strike
and ‘disorders’.
The strike and the rebellion were effectively and immediately called
| off, and the bands were permitted to disband and the rebels from the
neighbouring Arab states were eventually allowed to cross the border.
The géneral atmosphere began to cool down.
As a result of the rebellion sixteen Police and twenty-two military
| hdd been killed and 104 Police and 148 military woynded,* 80 Jews
| had been killed and about 308.wounded. According to official reports
| thére’ were 145-Arabs killed anil 804 wounded, but these figures were
| based on verified deaths and treatment in hospitals. The Peel Com-
' mission was inclined to believe that 1,000 Arabs 'wéré killdd mostly in
f fighting.®* The Jewish Agency reported 80,000 citrus trees,-62,000
| other: fruit trees, 64,000 forest trees and 16,500 dunums of crops
; béloriging to Jews or Jewish bodies had‘been destroyed by the Afabs.
“40: . “4: “270 % dey . : . .
Britain’s inability or unwillingess fo‘Suspend immigration reinforced
+ thé Arabs” belief that Britain was irrevocably conimitted to a pro-
Zionist ‘policy’ in ‘Palestine whith could not be changed unless-and until
F independence was achieved.
The military punitive measures, village searches, wholesale arrests,
“a
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هو جزء من

Palestine: A Modern History

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

مجموعات العناصر

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