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Report of the Mandatory Government to the League of Nations(December 31, 1936)REPORT BY HIS MAJESTY'S
GOVERNMENT IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND TO THE COUNCIL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE AND TRANS-JORDAN FOR THE YEAR 1936. PALESTINE INTRODUCTORY. POSITION, ETC. Palestine lies on the western edge of the continent of Asia between latitude 30° N. and 33° N., Longitude 34° 30 E. and 35° 30' E. On the south-west it is bounded by Egyptian territory, on the south-east by the Gulf of Aqaba, on the east by Trans-Jordan, on the north by the French Mandated territories of Syria and the Lebanon, and on the west by the Mediterranean. The boundaries are as follows:--
South-east.--From Ras Taba, the Gulf of Aqaba to a point two miles west of Aqaba, thence up the centre of the Wadi Araba, the Dead Sea, and the Jordan, to the centre of the River Yarmuk to the Syrian frontier. North.--The northern boundary was laid down by the Anglo-French Convention of the 23rd December, 1920, and its delimitation was ratified in 1923. Stated briefly, the boundary runs from Ras el Naqura on the Mediterranean east-wards to Metulla and across the upper Jordan valley to Banias, thence to Jisr Banat Yaqub, thence along the Jordan to the Lake of Tiberias and on to El Hamme station on the Samakh-Deraa railway line. West.--The Mediterranean Sea. AREA AND CLIMATE. 3. The climate of Palestine, affected by the neighbouring deserts of Arabia and Nubia as well as by nearby temperate zones, is characterized generally by a dry, warm, but not excessively hot summer, and a mild winter with heavy periodical rainfalls accompanied by high, cold winds; frost is rare. But the typical climate is varied by the diverse topography of the country. In the south and south-west there are wide expanses of sand dunes and desert. The remainder of the country falls naturally into three longitudinal strips--the maritime plain, the mountainous regions (or central highlands), and the Jordan valley. Each of these strips, which are more closely described below, is climatically distinct. The climate of the maritime plain is warm but equable; the heat of summer and the cold of winter are both tempered by the westerly winds from the Mediterranean. In the central highlands there is a greater range of temperature both daily and seasonal, and the maximum temperature is a few degrees lower than in the coastal plains. Snow and hail occasionally fall in Jerusalem and Hebron, and the winter storms are accompanied by penetrating winds which necessitate the use of clothing suitable for a cold English climate. The Jordan valley is tropical. The high air pressure and the excessive heat in summer combine to produce most oppressive conditions, but the winter in this region is warm and balmy. The maritime plain and the central highlands are both healthy, though the one, on account of greater humidity, is relaxing in its effects, while the other, through sudden changes of temperature, predisposes to chills and respiratory complaints. 4. The following records are typical of the three climatic zones:--
5. Rainfall is of vital importance in Palestine and any reduction in its quantity arouses concern for the prospects of agriculture and water conservation generally. The mean volume of annual rainfall is roughly equal to that of the rainfall in the east of England. There are two well-marked periods of precipitation. The "former rain" in October and November is not usually large; during December, January and February, the rainfall steadily increases; in March it begins to abate, and it is practically ended in April. The characteristic winds are the moist west and south-west of winter and the dry north and north-west of summer. Desert heat is brought by the sirocco from the hot deserts of the south or east generally in April and May and occasionally in September and October. 6. Along the greater part of the western seaboard lies a stretch of fertile plain of sand and sandy loam soil. In the south this plain has an average width of about 20 miles, but it gradually narrows to the north until at Mount Carmel, near Haifa, the hills approach to within a few hundred yards of the sea. Beyond Carmel the plain widens again, but in this area it is marshy and malarial. The second strip consists of two distinct mountainous regions divided sharply by the plain of Esdraelon. To the north of that plain are the mountains of Galilee extending beyond the Syrian frontier and rising to Jebel Jermak to a height of 3,934 feet above sea-level; to the south are the mountains of Samaria and Judea, which in places reach heights little less than those of Galilee. Most of this second strip of country is desolate and stony, but at irregular intervals there occur stretches of fertile land capable of deep tillage. The plain of Esdraelon, which cuts so sharply through the mountain system of Palestine, is roughly triangular in shape. Though the soil is here of a heavier and more clayey texture than that of the coastal plain, Esdraelon is proverbially fertile and is especially suitable for cereal production. The third and eastern strip of country is the Jordan valley, a natural depression which, starting from sea-level in the extreme north of the country, falls gradually to a depth of 1,300 feet below that level at the Dead Sea, about 100 miles to the south. 7. The capital of Palestine is Jerusalem, situated in the midst of the hills of Judea, and the principal towns are Haifa, with its modern harbour, in the north at the entrance to the plain of Esdraelon; Jaffa, a second port which lies some 40 miles west- north-west of Jerusalem; Tel-Aviv, which is contiguous to Jaffa; and Nablus, the ancient Sichem, in the hills of Samaria. Jerusalem has a majority of Jewish inhabitants; in Haifa the Arab and Jewish elements are now approximately equal in numbers; Tel-Aviv is an entirely Jewish township of 150,000 inhabitants. In Jaffa a large majority of the people are Arabs, and in Nablus, apart from a small community of Samaritans, all the people are Arabs. Other important towns where the population consists of both Arabs and Jews are Hebron, 20 miles to the south of Jerusalem; Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee; and Safad, a remote town in mountainous country in the extreme north of Palestine. CHANGES IN PERSONNEL 1936. From Palestine.
8. During the year, the following left Palestine:--
Mr. L. I. N. Lloyd-Blood, M.C., Solicitor-General, was appointed Attorney-General, Cyprus. Mr. F. H. Baker, President, District Court, was appointed Puisne Judge, Nigeria. Mr. W. Foster, Deputy Postmaster-General, and Mr. J. F. Rowlands, O.B.E., Deputy Director of Public Works, retired on pension. To Palestine.
The following appointments were made:--
Mr. J. Gutch, Assistant Colonial Secretary, Gold Coast, was appointed Establishment Officer, Secretariat. Mr. R. H. R. Church, Assistant District Commissioner, Somaliland, was appointed Assistant Secretary. Mr. A. L. Craig-Bennett was appointed Chief Fisheries Officer. Mr. G. N. Sale, formerly in Mauritius, was appointed Conservator of Forests. Mr. W. B. Kennedy-Shaw was appointed Departmental Assistant, Department of Antiquities. Mr. R. Macdonald, formerly Assistant Auditor, Federated Malay States, was appointed Senior Assistant Auditor. Mr. A. H. E. Rogers was appointed Principal of the Government Trade School at Haifa. Miss J. McDowall was appointed Woman Medical Officer. Mr. R. J. Manning, formerly Puisne Judge, Trinidad, was appointed Senior Puisne Judge. Mr. L. E. C. Evans, formerly Senior Crown Counsel, Sierra Leone, was appointed Relieving President of a District Court. Mr. B. V. Shaw, formerly Resident Magistrate, Kenya, was appointed Relieving President of a District Court. Mr. P. J. Bourke, formerly Legal Adviser and Crown Prosecutor, Seychelles, was appointed a Chief Magistrate. Mr. J. P. Hogan was appointed a Chief Magistrate. Mr. R. F. Jardine, C.M.G., was appointed Chief Inspector, Land Registration. Mr. A. E. P. Rose, formerly Crown Counsel, Northern Rhodesia, was appointed Solicitor-General. Mr. S. Fry was appointed Director of Programmes, Palestine Broadcasting Service. Mr. H. C. H. Jones, formerly Executive Engineer Kenya, was appointed Assistant Director of Public Works. Mr. R. Le Mare, formerly Assistant Treasurer, Nigeria, was appointed a Senior Assistant Treasurer. Mr. F. G. Horwill was appointed Examiner of Banks. Lieutenant the Honourable H. C. Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, was appointed Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency the High Commissioner. PUBLIC SECURITY.
9. The year 1936 in Palestine was dominated by the disturbances which lasted throughout the country from the 19th April to the 12th October. 10. The autumn of 1935 had been marked by considerable political disquiet and by demonstrations of Arab discontent over Jewish immigration and the sales of Arab lands to Jewish buyers. 11. Arab spokesmen conducted a vigorous campaign against those accused of facilitating the transfer of Arab lands to Jewish ownership: a number of small land owners were persuaded to register their lands as family waqfs (a form of trust under Moslem religious law) to save them from falling into Jewish hands: and one large sale to Jews was cancelled through the instrumentality of the Supreme Moslem Council. 12. The ventilation of this grievance proceeded side by side with a sustained Press denunciation of Government's policy for the admission into Palestine of Jewish immigrants, the number of which in 1935 had totalled nearly 62,000. 13. Simultaneously in the Press a strong campaign was maintained criticizing the preference given by Jewish employers to Jewish casual and other labour to the exclusion of Arabs. 14. In paragraphs 12 and 13 of the Introductory Chapter of the Annual Report for 1935, reference was made to two internal incidents which had occurred in the autumn of 1935 and which had served to foment the already existing Arab malaise:--
(b) The short terrorist campaign of Sheikh Izzedin al Qassan which ended in his death in an encounter with the Palestine Police and in his subsequent apotheosis as a national hero-martyr. 16. In Egypt the students' movement which actually instigated disorders there in November, 1935, was closely watched by Arab youth in Palestine which gradually achieved a certain degree of influence with the Arab leaders themselves and used this influence to press for the adoption of a more extreme Arab policy. These activities were voiced in the Press through the medium of "Al Difa`a" newspaper, which was suspended for a month under the Press Ordinance for advocating the adoption in Palestine of the methods employed by the Egyptian students. 17. In Syria, Nationalist agitation for the conclusion of a Franco-Syrian treaty on the lines of the Anglo-`Iraqi Treaty, culminated early in 1936 in the outbreak of a prolonged strike, in sympathy with which the Palestine Arabs declared a short general strike on the 4th February. There was considerable elation in Arab circles in Palestine when at the end of February the French Government invited a Syrian National Delegation to Paris to discuss the terms of a Franco-Syrian Treaty. 18. The political events of November and December, 1935, and of the first three months of 1936 are described in the following section (Policy) of the introductory Chapter of this Report, with particular reference to the High Commissioner's dealings with the Arab leaders on the subject of (a) Arab political demands; (b) proposals for a Legislative Council (see paragraphs 22 and 23 of the Introductory Chapter of the Palestine and Trans-Jordan Annual Report for 1935); and (c) the proposed despatch of an Arab deputation to England following on the two Parliamentary Debates in London in February and March, 1936, on the subject of the proposed Legislative Council. 19. The fluctuations of these political developments found their echo in the state of public security throughout the country. Tension between the Arab and the Jewish communities which was fostered in both Presses remained at a high pitch, and on the 15th April an incident occurred which precipitated matters. 20. That night a number of cars on the road between Tulkarm and Nablus were held up by Arab highwaymen. After the armed robbers had removed valuables from the occupants of the cars, three Jews were forced to sit together in a truck where they were shot by the bandits in cold blood. One was killed outright and another died later from his injuries. There is little doubt that the unfortunate victims were deliberately chosen because they were Jews. On the following night two Arabs living in a hut near the road from Kfar Saba to Petah Tiqva were deliberately shot by two armed men. Before he died, one of the victims stated that the assailants were Jews, and he described them. It was the general impression among Arabs throughout the country that the crime was a reprisal for the murder of Jews on the previous night. One of the Jews shot on the 15th April was buried at Tel-Aviv on the 17th and the funeral was made the occasion of a demonstration. The Police were stoned, speeches were made, and there were cries of "We don't want this Government, we want a Jewish Army." A party of Jews started to move towards Jaffa but were stopped by the Police. The funeral was succeeded by an anti-Arab labour campaign in Tel-Aviv and some unemployed Jewish labourers demonstrated outside shops which employed Arabs. In the afternoon an Arab carter was assaulted by a party of Jews who forced him to return to Jaffa, and later a shop was broken open and looted because the manager was an Arab and Arabs were employed there. That evening a number of Arab carters passing through Tel-Aviv were assaulted or threatened and there were several other cases of assault. 21. On Saturday, the 18th, an Arab delivering ice in Tel-Aviv was assaulted and his ice destroyed; and an Arab omnibus in Tel-Aviv was stoned by Yemenite boys, as was an Arab- driven truck. In the Manshieh Quarter of Jaffa, which is the northern part of old Jaffa and adjoins Tel-Aviv, Arabs employed on structural alterations in a shop were molested. During the 17th and 18th of April no case of reprisal on the part of Arabs was reported to the Police. On Sunday, the 19th April, about 9.30 a.m., rumours became current in Jaffa that two Arabs had been killed in Tel-Aviv by Jews, and crowds of Arabs began to congregate in the centre of the town. Further rumours were subsequently circulated that the bodies of the two alleged victims had been brought to the Jaffa Central Police Station. Despite denials of the rumours by the District Commissioner, and a subsequent abortive search by Arab notables, at his invitation, of the Central Police Station and buildings, the crowd maintained their belief in the rumour and departed amid much disorder towards the Government hospital to pursue their investigations. On their way they made a series of indiscriminate assaults on Jews. Simultaneously, two other rumours, also unfounded, had gained wide credence in two other separate parts of Jaffa:-- (a) In the Manshieh Quarter; that four Arabs, including one woman, had been murdered by Jews; (b) At the Town Square; that three Arabs had been killed by Jews in an Arab orange- grove on the Salameh Road. 22. The effect of these rumours was to produce immediate acts of violence by Arabs. A lady in her car just escaped from an Arab attack and got back to Tel-Aviv. Her damaged car was closely followed into Tel-Aviv by other vehicles, similarly damaged by violence and stone-throwing. A Jewish lorry driver and his assistant were also injured by stones. Thereafter cars passing from Tel-Aviv towards Jaffa were systematically stoned by a patrol of Jews operating along the road from a lorry. During this stone-throwing one Arab lorry travelling towards Jaffa had its wind-screen smashed, and an Arab, who was riding on the top of the load, was severely injured. When the driver of this lorry, who had been cut about the face, reached Morum's Corner, one of the main traffic centres of Jaffa, he (or a companion travelling with him) shouted: "The two on the top have been killed by Jews". Later, when two more wounded Arabs arrived in another car, the Jaffa crowd started to stone and attack the police, threatened an advance on Tel-Aviv, and murdered a Jew in an adjacent street. The police repeatedly warned them to disperse and when, despite the appeals from one or two of their own people, they refused, baton charges were launched. These charges, which were met by fusillades of stones, had little effect and finally the officer in charge fired one round from his revolver, wounding one rioter. The mob at once dispersed. Meantime, elsewhere in the town, isolated cases of the murder of Jews--one of whom was stabbed to death near Town Square and another beaten to death in the Manshieh Quarter--had followed in quick succession; and near Morum's Corner two private cars had been violently attacked by the mob. The first car extricated itself by its own power; but the occupant of the second (whom the crowd imagined to be a Jew but whose identity has never been discovered) was saved from certain death by the action of a senior Police officer who, seeing two Arabs in succession about to murder the man, ordered a British constable to shoot. Both Arabs were killed. The immediate effect of these shots was to disperse the crowd. They undoubtedly also affected the crowd in the Manshieh Quarter, which also dispersed. By 2 p.m. the situation was in hand, and the police and the military reinforcements, which had arrived during the morning, were in control. Curfew was imposed on Jaffa and Tel-Aviv on the night of the 19th April, and the Palestine (Defence) Order in Council and the Emergency Regulations thereunder were immediately brought into force for all Palestine by Proclamation. 23. On the 20th April there was further serious rioting on the borders between Jaffa and Tel-Aviv, in particular in the Catton, Manshieh and Saknat Abu Kebir quarters. It was again a question of mob-belief in unfounded rumours and resulted in the assembly of large excited mobs of Arabs and Jews; and in Saknat Abu Kebir a serious collision was only prevented by police action. In the course of these incidents two Arabs and two Jews were killed (all at Saknat Abu Kebir) and twenty-six Jews and thirty-two Arabs injured. 24. The total casualties in Jaffa and Tel-Aviv between the 19th and the 22nd April were as follows:--
25.--(a) The Emergency Regulations published on the 19th April vested Government with exceptional powers under the following headings:--
(2) The regulation of road traffic and transport fares, and acquisition of local transport vehicles and control of their use; (3) Control of the sale of petrol, firearms and explosives; (4) Punishment of acts of sabotage; (5) Imposition of curfew; (6) Censorship of parcels, letters, telegrams, press matter; control of publications; (7) Control of telephones, and movements of vessels; (8) Deportation; (9) The right of the Police Force to arrest without warrant; the right of entry and search of houses and confiscation of goods; and the right of search of suspected persons or vehicles. (b) Additional Regulations were published on the 22nd May and gave District Commissioners the power to place persons under police supervision and to restrict their movement from one part of Palestine to another. (c) On the 1st June further additional Regulations were published which gave
(2) District Commissioners power to order the detention of persons in internment camps for a period not exceeding one year; (3) Powers of arrest without warrant to members of the fighting forces. (1) shooting at the troops or police; (2) bomb throwing or dynamiting; (3) acts of sabotage;
Under these Regulations the Government also took power to--
(2) control the publication of newspapers by the issue of permits; (3) levy collective fines in money or kind upon inhabitants of towns or villages who had committed an offence or connived at its commission; (4) demolish houses from which firearms had been discharged or other crimes of violence committed. (e) Under further additional Regulations of the 20th June, the crimes of violence which had been made punishable with death or imprisonment for life in certain circumstances were made punishable with a minimum penalty of five years imprisonment in all circumstances, and this minimum penalty was extended to the possession of bombs and to the possession of firearms without authority or reasonable excuse. (f) The additional Regulations of the 25th August--
(2) provided for the imprisonment of persons committing disciplinary offences in internment camps. The following is a chronological statement of the main events which occurred during the period from the 22nd April to the 12th October. Detailed descriptions of these events will be found both in this section and in the following (Policy) section of this Report. 22nd to 30th April.
The formation of local National Committees. The declaration of a general strike throughout Palestine. The beginning of disorders and sabotage. May and June.
The hardening of the strike. Proposals for civil disobedience and for a strike of Arab Government officials. The intensification of violence and sabotage. The appearance of organised Arab bands in arms. The debate in the House of Commons and the announcement of the appointment of the Royal Commission. The establishment of a Concentration Camp by Government. The arrival of British re-inforcements from Egypt. The publication of the Emergency (Amendment) Regulations (No. 4) 1936. July and August.
The announcement of the membership and the terms of reference of the Royal Commission. The attempted mediation of the Amir Abdullah. The visit of Nuri Pasha to Jerusalem, 20th-30th August. The manifesto by the Arab Higher Committee dated the 30th August. September.
The letter from the Secretary of State to Dr. Weizmann. The publication of the British Statement of Policy regarding Palestine. The arrival in Palestine of Lieutenant-General Dill. October.
The appeal by the Arab Rulers. The issue of a call by the Arab Higher Committee for the cessation of the strike and disorders. The end of the strike. 26. The Arab political reaction to the events in Jaffa on the 19th April is described in the following sub-section (Policy). By the end of April the Arab strike was general all over Palestine with the exception of Haifa Port, and this development had an inevitable effect on public security. 27. During the remainder of April demonstrations and incidents of disorder (one of which resulted in two casualties) persisted in Jaffa town, and Jewish buses were frequently stoned and fired upon. Several cases of incendiarism involving mainly Jewish property were reported about this time throughout the Southern District, and there was considerable interference with telephone lines. Demonstrations accompanied by stone-throwing occurred in Nablus, Jenin and Beisan, and in a number of cases the police were compelled to disperse mobs by baton charges. On two occasions (in Nazareth town) they were obliged to open fire. The Jewish settlements in the Northern District suffered from constant cases of arson, and malicious damage of trees and crops. In Jerusalem a few assaults were made by Arabs on isolated Jews, while a large number of Jewish shops in the Old City were closed and Jewish residents in the Old City or in Arab quarters began to move. In Hebron the Jewish community was concentrated in the local Jewish hospital and later transferred to Jerusalem. 28. During May and June a perceptibly increasing amount of lawlessness and disorder developed throughout the Jerusalem, Northern and Southern Districts in the form of attacks on public and private Jewish property, sabotage on railways, telegraph and telephone communications, and, after the institution of frequent patrolling of the main routes by the police and troops, in the placing of barricades and other obstacles on the roads to impede the traffic. In addition, a considerable amount of organized sniping was directed against detachments of British troops and police on patrol, as well as against the escorted road convoys which were inaugurated during this period. The sniping of Jewish settlements, which had been carried out sporadically since the outbreak of the disorders, became more persistent. 29. During the second fortnight of May three Jews were murdered and two others wounded in a crowd leaving a Jerusalem cinema on the night of the 16th May. Two more Jews were also murdered in the Old City, and one was shot at. As a result there followed a further exodus of Jewish householders to safer quarters in the suburbs, while curfew orders were successively imposed, first on the Old City, then on the mixed quarters, and finally over the whole of the Jerusalem Municipal Area. Other victims were a British policeman, an Austrian Christian, and two Moslem Arabs; and an attempt was made to assassinate a British Assistant Superintendent of Police near the Old City Wall on the 12th June, the Police officer concerned being seriously wounded. One of his assailants was killed by the British policeman who was accompanying the officer at the time. 30. In the Northern District disorders in the towns decreased and activity tended to concentrate in the countryside. The disturbances took three principal forms:--
(ii) Sabotage of Communications.--Telephone wires were cut throughout the district, roads were barricaded, and bridges and culverts were mined. Serious damage was done, and in one case a bridge on the Nablus-Tulkarm branch of the Palestine Railways was destroyed. The train service on this route was discontinued as a consequence. (iii) Violent armed attacks from ambush on the Military and Police Force.-- There were four major engagements and several minor though violent skirmishes between armed Arab bands and military detachments. During this period (May and June) the attacks made by armed bands were characterized by the following four features:--
(ii) the increased amount of ammunition used by the attackers; (iii) the improved organization of the attacks, and the fact that in place of the former indiscriminate sniping the fire of the gangs was now organized and controlled; and (iv) the appearance among the rebels of "volunteers" from Syria and `Iraq. In Haifa Town the Arab strike, except as regards transport undertakings, remained widespread, but work in the Port was continued with but little interruption. There were two street demonstrations, one in May and the other in June, in the course of which the police were forced to open fire to disperse the crowds. Police stations and military billets were constantly sniped at in Acre and Nablus. A collective fine of £P.300 was imposed on Nablus in May, and on Acre and Safad in June. 31. In the Southern District acts of violence and sabotage began to occur with frequency from the end of May. These acts tended to concentrate on the damaging of the railway and of telegraph and telephone communications. After the arrival of the first military reinforcements, during the latter weeks of May, there was an intensification of sniping on military patrols and on detachments of military and police. In the Jaffa--Tel-Aviv area, inter-racial animosity notably increased with the inauguration in May of landing facilities for cargo on the Tel-Aviv foreshore and later at the new jetty. Bitter protests were made by the Arab boatmen of Jaffa port, who regarded this new development as a direct challenge. During June there were twelve acts of sabotage on the railway, and on two occasions trains were wrecked, one of the derailments near Lydda on the 26th June causing four deaths and considerable damage to the line and rolling stock. In consequence of this act of sabotage, which followed closely upon an organized attack on the Civil Airport at Lydda, a curfew was imposed on the town of Lydda, which was also fined £P.5,000. Throughout this period Jewish settlements in the Southern Districts became increasingly the object of sporadic attacks and, as in the Northern District, great damage was done to trees and crops by arson and malicious destruction. Beginning on the 19th June, certain areas in the Old City of Jaffa on the hill overlooking the Port were demolished. These house demolitions were carried out by the Army after notice to evacuate had been given to the inhabitants involved, to whom the Government promised compensation. Those who became homeless and destitute were given relief. The operations were carried out without loss of life, and in all 237 houses were demolished. As a result, not only has public security been greatly improved in a quarter of the town where, on account of narrow difficult streets and lanes, police work had always--and in particular during the disturbances following on the outbreak of the 19th April--been notoriously difficult, but also two wide streets which by the end of the year were open to traffic, have been created which will improve public health conditions and contribute both to the commercial and residential amenities of the town. During the autumn, a housing scheme for the accommodation of those rendered homeless by the demolitions was initiated by Government. Further reference to this scheme will be found in paragraph 34 of Chapter XX (Public Health). 32. During July and August there was no change in the general situation. The strike continued to be maintained and disorders continued unabated, except indeed for a temporary lull during the attempted mediation of His Highness the Amir Abdullah and later during the negotiations between the Arab Higher Committee and Nuri Pasha es Said. Reference to these negotiations is made in the following section (Policy). 33. In Jerusalem itself a thorough organization of anti-intimidation pickets by the military and the police encouraged such hawkers of village produce as were able to reach the town, and continued to protect the Jewish shops in the commercial centre. On the roads leading to Jerusalem, however, strikers and their sympathizers frequently assaulted villagers bringing produce into the town, destroying their produce and in many cases also killing their animals. One aircraftman was assassinated and an attempt was made to assassinate a second near Gethsemane on the 10th August. The Acting Mayor of Hebron was murdered by unknown persons on the 13th August. Night sniping at Jewish settlements continued in the rural areas of the Jerusalem District, and military and police patrols were fired upon with greater frequency. There were constant cases of sabotage of telegraph and telephone wires as well as of rail and road communications and of crops; and the water-supply pipe-line from Ras el Ain to Jerusalem was wilfully damaged on several occasions. 34. Acts of violence continued during the months of July and August both in Jaffa and in the Southern District generally; and a succession of murderous activities and disorders in the middle of August resulted in the temporary imposition of a 21-hour curfew in Jaffa town. 35. In the Northern District during the month of July, there were several major engagements with armed bands in the Jenin and Safad areas, and a band in the Nazareth area was known to be terrorizing the neighbouring Arab villages with demands for food and money, although it did not come into conflict with the Government's forces. During July seven attacks were made on the `Iraq Petroleum Company's pipe-line in the Plain of Jezreel and the Beisan Valley. During August determined efforts were made both by peaceful persuasion and by intimidation to extend the Arab strike in Haifa to workers at the port and on the railways, as well as in the `Iraqm Company's works and in other large commercial undertakings where Arab labour was employed. These efforts were frustrated by the added protection given by the Naval and Military Forces. There was also a recrudescence of violence in Haifa and its vicinity resulting in the murder of an Arab police officer in Haifa town and of four Jews and an Arab woman on Mount Carmel. The bands in the hills had in the meantime increased their numbers and their arms, and towards the end of the month were joined by trained guerilla leaders from outside Palestine. One of these was Fauzi ed Din el Kauwakji, a Syrian who had achieved notoriety in Syria in the Druze revolt of 1925-26. This person subsequently proclaimed himself generalissimo of the rebel forces, and "communiqués" and "proclamations" purporting to have emanated from him were circulated in the country. These bands came into conflict with the British troops on at least six occasions during August. In the course of these engagements the bands suffered severe casualties. El Hamme Police Post was attacked by an Arab armed band on the night of the 6th-7th August and a number of arms were stolen. A small party of British troops who were bathing near Beisan on the 12th August were subjected to a surprise attack by a large Arab armed band. Unfortunately their Lewis gun "jammed" and those who were on guard were killed by the band, who succeeded in capturing the Lewis gun and some rifles. 36. During September in the rural district of Jerusalem, intimidation increased, and there were indications of more efficient organization of the sabotage of telegraph and telephone communications which suffered heavily. Action to counter this increase of sabotage was taken by the recruitment of additional Arab watchmen and by posting them in the villages adjacent to acts of destruction, charging their salaries against the villagers. Armed Arab bands continued to beset the lines of communications, the leaders in several cases being "wanted" criminals, while the personnel was mainly recruited from the villages, sometimes by free enlistment, but probably more often by intimidation. On the morning of the 7th September, an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate a senior (Jewish) British official while walking with a Jewish colleague to the Government Offices, Jerusalem. 37. During September, the `Iraq Petroleum Company's pipe-line was again damaged on thirteen occasions, and there was a recrudescence of violence in Tiberias, as a result of which two Jews were killed and two wounded. Sporadic shooting at the troops by armed Arab parties continued in the Tulkarm, Nablus, Acre, and Safad Districts, and during the month there were six major police and military encounters with rebel bands, in which the Arabs suffered severe casualties. Incidents were also reported of these bands raiding Arab villages for goods and money. An armed Arab band attacked a postal car near Rosh Pina on the night of the 9th September, and four British constables who proceeded to the rescue were ambushed and killed, their Lewis gun and rifles being taken by the rebels. On the 27th September, Haj Khalil Taha, a prominent Arab politician and a member of the local strike committee of Haifa, was shot dead by an Arab. 38. The closing stages of the strike which ended in the appeal of the Arab rulers and the manifesto by the Arab Higher Committee are described in the following section (Policy); but while these protracted negotiations were in progress, violence and disorder persisted throughout the country. There were frequent police and military engagements with armed bands, in one of which, in the Bethlehem sub-district, the Syrian revolutionary and rebel leader, Said Bey al A'as, was killed. On the same date, the 7th October, an unsuccessful attempt was made in Haifa on the life of an Arab Superintendent of Police. 39. The response to the Arab Higher Committee's manifesto of the 10th October was immediate, and on the 12th October all Arab shops and businesses re-opened; and towards the end of the month Fawzi el Kauwakji and some of his confederates escaped from Palestine to `Iraq, and with his departure disorders temporarily ceased. 40. Isolated outrage, however, persisted up to the end of the year. It took several forms:--
(b) Attacks on Jews by Arabs. In October these attacks were still frequent, and after a lull in November they were resumed in December when the number of cases reported, including long-range-firing on Jewish settlements and transport, was sixteen. (c) Robbery with intimidation by Arabs from Arab houses and villages. During the period thirty-one cases were reported. (d) Highway Robbery. These activities had apparently no political inspiration, all save three of the incidents concerning Arab transport alone. They were generally believed to be prompted by economic distress among isolated groups of those who had recently been actively engaged in the armed bands. One such group was attacked and dispersed by the police in December. Special deterrent measures were introduced by the police early in the New Year which were markedly successful, and incidents of highway robbery which numbered twenty in December, 1936, were reduced to thirteen in January, 1937. 41. During November and December, pamphlets were distributed in Jerusalem and elsewhere by unknown persons which were designed to foment Moslem-Christian animosities. These activities did not assume any magnitude and were promptly and openly condemned by the leaders of both religions. 42. A mutual boycott of considerable stringency between the Arab and Jewish communities broke out after the end of the strike. It provoked isolated instances of violence and intimidation and continued to be observed until the end of the year. 43. Throughout the year and more particularly during the period of the disorders the local Press left much to be desired and caused the Government to take repeated summary action against individual newspapers under the Press Ordinance. Between the 1st January and the 18th April, 1936, one Arabic paper was suspended for a fortnight, while official warnings were given to one Arabic and one Hebrew newspaper. During the six months of the disturbances Arabic newspapers were suspended on 34 occasions and Hebrew papers on 13 occasions. Arabic papers during the same period were officially warned 11 times and Hebrew papers 10 times. From the termination of the strike up to the end of the year, one Hebrew paper and nine Arabic papers were suspended. In November, on the occasion of the Bairam festival at the end of the month of Ramadan, all four Arabic daily newspapers were simultaneously suspended for publication of inciting articles. According to the terms of the Press Ordinance all suspensions were on the grounds of publishing matter likely to endanger the public peace or of publishing false report or false rumour calculated to create alarm and despondency. During the year, seven foreign newspapers and one book were prohibited from entering Palestine. 44. Particulars dealing with crime, police traffic control, and the work of the police dog section will be found in Chapter XI (Military Clauses). The following statement gives particulars of casualties (excluding accidental casualties) during the period 19th April to 15th October inclusive.
Note.--The numbers given above are those officially recorded as having been treated at civil, military and Jewish hospitals, or where death has been recorded and verified. Undoubtedly, however, a large number of Arab casualties were concealed, and unconfirmed information received from a reliable source places the number of Arabs killed during the disturbances at approximately 1,000. POLICY.
45. In last year's report a full account was given of the proposals made by His Majesty's Government for the establishment of a Legislative Council in Palestine. These proposals were announced successively to the Arab and Jewish leaders on 21st and 22nd December, 1935. The Jewish leaders rejected them uncompromisingly; the Arab attitude though critical was disposed to give them full consideration. Shortly before, on 25th November, 1935, His Excellency had at their request received a deputation of the following political party leaders:
Jamal Eff. al Husseini, President of the Palestine Arab Party. Abdul Latif Bey Salah, President of the National Bloc. Mohamed Ishaq Eff. Budeiri, Reform Party. Yacoub Eff. Ghussein, President of the Executive Committee of the Arab Young Men's Congress. who had handed to him a memorandum embodying their main demands, namely:--
(b) that Jewish immigration should be stopped completely; (c) that all sales of lands to Jews should be prohibited. This memorandum was submitted by the High Commissioner to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 46. On 29th January, 1936, the considered views of His Majesty's Government were conveyed to the Arab Executive who met His Excellency for the purpose. The reply to the Arab memorandum was as follows:--
(b) There can be no question of the total stoppage of Jewish immigration into Palestine. The guiding principle as regards the admission of immigrants is the policy of economic absorptive capacity and His Majesty's Government contemplates no departure from that principle. In order to ensure that the closest possible relation is maintained between the number of new immigrants to be admitted and the absorptive capacity of the country, both now and in the future, a Statistical Bureau has been set up in charge of a highly-trained and experienced statistician from Canada. It is intended that this Bureau should carry out periodical surveys of trade, industry and agriculture and should keep the High Commissioner in close touch with the changing economic situation in the country. (c) The Secretary of State approves in principle of the enactment of legislation whereby, except in the sub-district of Beersheba and in urban areas, and also except as regards land planted with citrus, no landowner shall be permitted to sell any of his land unless he retains a minimum area which is sufficient to afford a means of subsistence to himself and his family. As a safeguard against collusive sales, this minimum area shall be inalienable and shall revert to Government if it ceases to be cultivated by the owner-occupier. The High Commissioner shall retain the power to approve the sale of a subsistence area if he is satisfied that to do so will be in the interest of the public good; for example, where a subsistence area is needed for suburban development or is blocking development of rural land or an important irrigation or drainage scheme. Subsistence areas will have to be defined and prescribed having regard to the condition of cultivation present in each region, and the extent of those subsistence areas will be varied from time to time as the land in question is improved or as irrigation becomes possible. Consideration will moreover have to be given to the possibility, in suitable circumstances, of concentrating subsistence areas and also to the question whether leases of subsistence areas might under certain conditions be permitted. The legislation proposed will be of general application so that outside the excluded areas the sale of land to any person would be subject to the restrictions indicated. 47. In February the proposals for the Palestine Legislative Council were debated in the British House of Lords and in March in the House of Commons. No vote was taken, but the two debates revealed a general opinion among all parties in both Houses that the proposals were premature and that further experience of the working of the various Municipal Councils was necessary before a Legislative Council came into being. The Secretary of State had already received a Jewish deputation regarding these proposals, and with his approval the High Commissioner, on 2nd April, 1936, invited the following Arab leaders to meet him:--Ragheb Bey Nashashibi, Jamal Eff. el Husseini, Abdul Latif Bey Salah, Mahmud Eff. Abu Khadra, and Yacoub Eff. Ghussein, and on behalf of the British Government informed them that the Secretary of State, having already seen a Jewish deputation which had made strong representations against the setting up of a Legislative Council, would welcome a corresponding opportunity of hearing the expression of Arab opinion. The High Commissioner was therefore authorised to invite an Arab deputation to London for this purpose. In response to a question whether it would be open to the deputation also to submit to the Secretary of State the Arab case regarding land sales and immigration, the High Commissioner said that although the principal matter to be discussed with the Secretary of State was that of the Legislative Council, the deputation would also be at liberty to put forward their views on land sales and immigration. The Arab leaders, after a short discussion, accepted the invitation unanimously. 48. At the moment when the disturbances broke out seventeen days later, on the 19th April, 1936, the position as regards the Government and the Arab leaders was that the latter were actually in the normal course of considering what persons should form the Arab deputation which had been invited to visit the Secretary of State in London. An account of the Jaffa disturbances on the 19th April, 1936, and of the incidents which led up to the outbreak is contained in the preceding section of this report (Public Security). 49. On the 20th April, 1936, a National Committee was formed in Nablus and urged that a general Arab strike should be declared throughout Palestine and be observed for an indefinite period until Arab demands were satisfied, and that similar Committees with similar objects should be formed throughout the country. Between the 20th and 22nd April the strike movement spread rapidly in the towns and villages, and by the latter date, with the exception of Haifa, it was general in Palestine. On the 25th April, the leaders of all Arab parties met and decided to establish a Supreme Arab Committee (later styled the Arab Higher Committee) to control Arab national activities during the emergency. The Committee was composed as follows:-- Haj Amin Effendi al Husseini, President. Mufti of Jerusalem. President, Supreme Moslem Council. Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, Secretary. General Secretary of the Istiqlalist Party.
Manager of the Arab Bank. Affiliated to the Istiqlalist Pary. Ragheb Bey Nashashibi, Member. President, Defence Party. Jamal Effendi al Husseini, Member. President, Arab Palestine Party. Abdul Latif Bey Salah, Member. President, National Bloc, Nablus. Dr. Hussein Fakhri Effendi al Khalidi, Member. Mayor of Jerusalem. One of three Secretaries of the Reform Party. Yacoub Effendi Ghussein, Member. President of the Executive of the Young Men's Congress. Yacoub Effendi Farraj, Member. Vice-President of the Defence Party. Alfred Effendi Rock, Member. Vice-President of the Palestine Arab Party. Two of the members, Yacoub Effendi Farraj and Alfred Effendi Rock represented the Arab Christians, Orthodox and Catholic respectively. The Committee adopted a resolution to continue the general strike until the British Government changed its policy in a fundamental manner, of which the immediate manifestation should be the stoppage of Jewish immigration. They formulated their demands in a letter to the High Commissioner as follows: (1) The prohibition of Jewish immigration. (2) The prohibition of the transfer of Arab lands to Jews.
Ragheb Bey Nashashibi (Defence Party). Jamal Eff. al Husseini (Arab Palestine Party). Abdul Latif Bey Salah (Young Men Congress). Shibli Eff. Jamal (Reform Party). In addressing them, he stated that he felt that every one deplored the disorders and the consequent loss of life which could achieve no good and were the direct cause of evil and bitterness. He counted on them to use their influence to check disorder and asked them to explain to all over whom they had influence that the police would not hesitate to quell any disturbances. He further urged them to exert their influence among school-children to induce them to resume their studies. 51. On the 27th April, 1936, the newly-formed Arab Higher Committee addressed a letter to the High Commissioner enclosing their resolutions of 25th April. (Paragraph 49.) 52. On the 5th May the High Commissioner again invited the members of the Arab Higher Committee to meet him. He warned them against being associated with illegal acts subversive of Government and urged them to use their influence to restrain people from violence and sabotage, and advised them to send their deputation to London (see paragraph 47). The Committee in a written reply expressed their regret for the loss of life and the illegal acts, but stated that they could not call off the strike or send a deputation to London unless Jewish immigration was suspended during the course of their conversations with the Secretary of State. 53. On 6th May the Secretary of State made a statement in the House of Commons in the course of which he stated that he believed that the underlying cause of the disturbances in Palestine was Arab discontent and that he understood that the Arabs had threatened to continue the strike until Jewish immigration was stopped. He took the occasion to reaffirm what he had said immediately after the Jaffa outbreak, that there was no question of the Government stopping immigration in consequence of the strike. He further confirmed that the invitation to the Arabs to send a deputation to London where they would receive a full and impartial hearing, was still open. 54. On 2nd May, 1936, a violent manifesto was issued by the car-owners' and drivers' committee, inciting Arabs to the non-payment of taxes. The President and the Vice-President of the Committee were convicted on a charge of distributing inciting circulars and were fined £P.25 each. On 8th May, 1936, a Congress of the National Committees (see paragraph 49), including the President and members of the Arab Higher Committee, met in Jerusalem and decided on the non-payment of taxes and a continuation of the strike. Shortly after, in reply to a memorandum addressed to them by the High Commissioner, the Arab Higher Committee intimated that they were not responsible for the movement in favour of civil disobedience, but that this movement was in fact a spontaneous demand made by Arabs generally and that the Committee could not use their influence to check illegal acts unless Jewish immigration was suspended. 55. On the 18th May the Secretary of State made a statement in the House of Commons that the Government had decided to send a Royal Commission to Palestine but that it would not leave until order had been restored in the country. This announcement was received without enthusiasm by the Arabs, and the Arab Higher Committee decided they could not call off the strike unless Jewish immigration was suspended until such time as the Commission had reported. 56. On the same day--the 18th May, 1936--a notice was published in the Palestine Official Gazette approving a Jewish Labour Schedule of 4,500 immigrants in respect of the period of six months ending the 30th September, 1936. 57. On the 23rd May sixty-five Arabs were arrested in the public interest and subjected to varying periods of police supervision under Emergency Regulations. In most cases they were ordered away from their own localities and put into enforced residence elsewhere. During June, however, Government found it necessary to detain certain of them--among them Hassan Sidki Dajani and Saleh Abdu, President and Vice-President of the car-owners' and drivers' committee (see paragraph 54), and Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, the Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee (see paragraph 49). To succeed Auni Bey, the Arab Higher Committee appointed as Secretary another adherent of the Istiqlalist party, Izzat Eff. Darwaza, who was also later interned at Sarafand. Details of the Sarafand Internment Camp are included in a subsequent chapter of this Report (Military Clauses). 58. On the 12th June, 1936, Government issued an addition to the Emergency Regulations (originally declared on the 19th April, 1936) providing for more severe penalties for the offence of discharging firearms at members of His Majesty's Forces or the Palestine Police Force, bomb-throwing, or illicit possession of arms. Details of these Regulations are included in the preceding Section of this chapter (Public Security). 59. At the beginning of June, three prominent Arabs, Jamal Eff. al Husseini, a member of the Arab Higher Committee, Dr. Tannous and Shibli Eff. Jamal left for England as an unofficial delegation with the object of enlisting sympathy for the Arabs. They were accompanied by Emil el Ghori, an Arab politician and journalist, who remained in London after the delegation had completed its mission and opened an Arab information bureau there. 60. On 19th June, a debate took place in the House of Commons about Palestine. It was opened by the Rt. Hon. W. G. Ormsby-Gore who had assumed the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies on the 29th May. The following is the text of the main points of his speech:--
"Disturbances, accompanied by strikes of non-Jewish shops, motor transport, the port workers at Jaffa, and, in short, of almost all Arab industrial enterprises, have now, I regret to say, continued for some eight weeks. Several municipalities have joined in the strike, but essential services are still being maintained, and intimidation, I am informed, is responsible only in a very small measure for the continuation of the strike which clearly has the full sympathy of all too large a part of the Arab population. Nevertheless, the supreme Arab Committee have publicly dissociated themselves from the outbreak, though I fear that in this sphere--and I am confirmed by the opinion of the High Commissioner--they can now exercise little influence on the situation owing to the wide-spread character of the disturbances. I should also like to mention that the supreme Moslem Council has decided to take no part in the strike and the Sharia Courts are still open and the Waqf Administration is working. I am also glad to say there has been no disorder or complaint regarding anything in connection with the services at the mosques which have been carried on without interruption, and perform their religious duties in a quite normal manner. . "I have made it abundantly clear, in answer to questions, that the first essential is that order must be restored. . . . . In the last three weeks the security forces have been strongly reinforced. . . . . "With these forces it has been possible to authorize the High Commissioner to supplement the normal powers of the Government to restore law and order and to deal with riots. . . . . The important new orders are principally in the form of regulations made under the Palestine (Defence) Order in Council dated the 23rd July, 1931. . . . . "It will be appreciated that it is very difficult for effective military action to be taken against individual snipers and small parties who burn crops and attack communications particularly at night. The recent advent of strong military reinforcement has prevented large-scale acts of violence in the principal towns, and every effort is now being made by the authorities to give greater protection to life and property throughout the country as the troops recently arrived become distributed. I am glad to say that railway and other communications, in spite of these attacks which I have detailed, are maintained despite interruptions. Escorts are now being provided for car convoys and all trains. Work, however, has been most seriously dislocated and remains almost at a standstill at the port of Jaffa, though up to now Haifa has been unaffected. . . . . "At this point I should like to take the opportunity of expressing His Majesty's Government's complete confidence in Sir Arthur Wauchope and their appreciation of his services throughout his time as High Commissioner, and I must at once pay a special tribute to the Palestine Police, British, Jew and Arab, for their devotion to duty and their loyalty in the face of most trying circumstances. May I further pay a tribute to the Jews in Palestine, who, despite extreme provocation and attack, have exercised most commendable self-restraint. . . . I am glad to say that the situation in the neighbouring mandated territory of Trans-Jordan has, under the steadying influence of His Highness the Amir Abdullah remained almost entirely undisturbed. "After that survey I will turn to the future. Let me say at once that His Majesty's Government have not been, and will not be, moved by violence and outrage. As soon as order is restored, but not before, His Majesty will be advised to appoint a Royal Commission to visit Palestine to carry out a most full and searching investigation into the causes of unrest and of any grievances which may be brought to their notice by either Arabs or Jews. This will be a really impartial and authoritative body, and I wish to give an assurance that any grievances put forward to that Commission will be investigated. The sole aim of His Majesty's Government is to obtain an objective and non-partisan report, to enable them to do justice to all sections of the Palestine population. I am convinced that on the basis of the recommendations of such a Commission a means can be found and will be found, within the framework of the Mandate, with its dual obligations to Jews and non-Jews to secure that end. Let me make it quite clear that I shall submit no name for service on such a Royal Commission of anyone who has been or is in any way connected with Palestine or has any known pre-conceived views, or has ever taken part in Jewish or Arab affairs. . . . . I am confident that the persons serving on such a Commission will approach all their problems, difficult though they will be, with a really objective and impartial mind. "No one regrets more than I do that the relations between His Majesty's Government and the Arabs of Palestine have been temporarily strained, and I really hope that this is only a passing phase. The Arab people are rightly proud of their historic achievements and of their contribution to civilisation. There has been a traditional friendship between Great Britain and the Arab people which His Majesty's Government value, and it is their earnest desire to see it preserved. They believe that that is equally the desire of the vast majority of Arab peoples throughout the world. The notable assistance given by Britain to the Arabs in the War, in Arabia, in `Iraq and elsewhere, should be evidence of our good will and interest in the future of the Arab people. "At the same time, there is the age-long aspiration of Jews all over the world for a centre in Palestine. This aspiration and claim were formally and most specifically recognised by His Majesty's Government in the Balfour Declaration in 1917. This Declaration was subsequently endorsed in almost identical terms by all the other Principal Allied and Associated Powers in the War, and was finally enshrined in the Mandate which is our authority for the government of Palestine; and it was entrusted to His Majesty's Government by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers at the San Remo Conference in January, 1920. The Balfour Declaration itself made it clear that with the establishment of the Jewish national home and the recognition of the Jewish claims nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Hence it is clear that under that Declaration we have a dual obligation, both to the Jew and to the Arab. "There is at present a state of apprehension on both sides, and half the trouble that has led to these disorders is psychological. The Arabs are afraid that the Jews will completely dominate the country, and they fear for the future of their homes and the homes of their fathers and of their children. The Jews, equally, are afraid that the great and really remarkable constructive work which they had already done in Palestine will be cut short or terminated, that the national home on which they have set their hearts will be brought to naught and that the Arabs seek to drive them out of Palestine or reduce them to an inferior status of barely tolerated aliens in Palestine, under Arab domination. I honestly believe that both these fears are baseless, but they must be shown to be baseless. It is the desire of the British Government to find a solution, consistent with their fundamental dual obligation, and they regard those obligations equally as obligations of honour. It is my confident belief that we can dissipate those fears, and do justice to both parties, and it is my intention, when the solution is found, to apply that solution with firmness and consistency. We are most anxious, therefore, that order shall be speedily restored so that the work of the Royal Commission may start without delay. "Clearly the Royal Commission will have to investigate in detail the existing law and administrative practice of the Palestine Government regarding such matters as land transfers and the regulations regarding immigration not only of Jews but of Arabs and others. These important questions will have to be examined by His Majesty's Government in the light of the evidence collected and in the light of the recommendations of the Commission. I am sure that the whole of this Committee will agree with me that, pending such an impartial inquiry, it would be very wrong of me to prejudice, either by speech or action, the findings of the Commission. We can contemplate no change of policy whatsoever until we have received and considered their report. "I said a moment ago that certain important questions would have to be submitted to His Majesty's Government in the light of the evidence and the recommendations made by the Royal Commission. Perhaps I ought to add, lest misunderstandings arise, that I am sure it will be appreciated that no Government, least of all a mandatory Power, with its special responsibilities to the League and its duty of reporting to the League, can divest itself of the ultimate responsibility, or undertake in advance to carry out proposals or recommendations which it has not seen; but I would like to say that His Majesty's Government will certainly consider with the utmost care, and with all possible weight, any recommendations made by so authoritative a body as I have envisaged. If, as the result of their examination, they find that the action advised by the Commission commends itself to them, they will carry it into effect without fear and without favour. "I hope that the Committee will share my view, that in spite of temptation and in spite of crime and outrage, it is essential to take a long view. I should deeply regret any speech that would add fuel to the flames and add an increased racial strife and bitterness. We want Arabs and Jews to realise that both have an assured future in Palestine, and that the whole object of the British Government in that country is that both shall be able to live together in peace and amity in a land holy not only to them but to the three great faiths throughout the civilised world. We hold the Mandate for Palestine specially in trust for the world which regards Palestine with sentiments above, perhaps, any other country and we are determined to preserve our authority as mandatory Power, and to administer Palestine with justice and equity to Jew and Arab alike." 61. On the 22nd July, in reply to a question in the House of Commons asking for an assurance that no change in the declared policy of the Government with regard to the immigration of Jews into Palestine would take place until after the Royal Commission had reported, the Secretary of State for the Colonies made the following statement:--
62. Towards the end of June a memorandum for submission to Government was prepared by senior Arab Government officials of the Public Service, in which it was represented that the cause underlying the disorders was the insufficient regard paid to legitimate Arab grievances both in the past and since the outbreak of the disorders. The memorandum went on to recommend that the stoppage of Jewish immigration was the only fair and humane solution of the existing deadlock. This memorandum was transmitted by the High Commissioner to the Secretary of State. A memorandum in similar terms was later addressed to Government by Arab Government officials of the junior division of the service. 63. On the 29th July, the composition and the terms of reference of the Royal Commission were announced by the Secretary of State in the following terms:--
The Right Honourable The Earl Peel, G.C.S.I., G.B.E. The Right Honourable Sir Horace Rumbold, Baronet, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., M.V.O. Sir Laurie Hammond, K.C.S.I., C.B.E. Sir Morris Carter, C.B.E. Sir Harold Morris, M.B.E., K.C. Professor Reginald Coupland, C.I.E. Lord Peel will be Chairman of the Commission and Sir Horace Rumbold Vice- Chairman. Mr. J. M. Martin of the Colonial Office will be Secretary. "The terms of reference of the Royal Commission will be:--
"It is not yet possible to state on what date the Commission will leave for Palestine, but it is not proposed that the Commission should begin its work in Palestine until order is restored there. When a Royal Commission has been appointed, it has complete control over its own proceedings, so it would be impossible for me to give even an approximate indication of the time which will elapse before the report of the Commission will become available. "As regards the suggestion that there should be a temporary suspension of immigration while the Commission is carrying out its enquiry. I am unable to add anything to the full reply which I gave on 22nd July to the question by the Honourable Member for the Consett Division of Durham." (See paragraph 61.) 64. At the beginning of August, the Amir Abdullah of Trans-Jordan invited the Arab Higher Committee, individual members of which he had previously received at their request, to discuss the position with him in Amman. This attempt at mediation, however, broke down, as the members of the Committee expressed themselves unable to co-operate unless concessions--including an announcement that Jewish immigration would be suspended during the visit of the Royal Commission to Palestine, which the British Government refused to entertain--were granted. A further series of negotiations on similar lines was undertaken during the second half of August by Nuri Pasha es Said, at that time `Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs. 65. These negotiations, in their turn, were nullified as a result of the publication at the end of August of a manifesto by the Arab Higher Committee, the text of which was as follows:--
"In consequence His Excellency the Minister of `Iraq will conduct the necessary official correspondence in this respect, while the Supreme Arab Committee will submit the matter to the Nation, through a General Congress of the National Committees, for consultation and confirmation. The Nation will continue its general strike with the same steadfastness and conviction which it has shown, and with an unblemished dignity, full of confidence, patience and sobriety, and until such time as these negotiations attain the desired result which will safeguard for this brave Nation its existence, secure for it its rights and the realization of its aspirations." 67. On the 7th September His Majesty's Government issued their statement of policy regarding Palestine in the following terms:--
"Active steps were at once taken by the Palestine Administration for the protection of life and property and for the suppression of disorders and during the months following on the outbreak of the disturbances the Palestine garrison has been considerably reinforced. In spite, however, of the greatest forebearance exercised by the British authorities, with the full approval of His Majesty's Government, whose chief concern has been to restore peace between the different communities in Palestine by measures which would entail the smallest possible amount of suffering and loss of life, the political strike has continued accompanied by outrages and guerilla warfare. Widespread intimidation has been used by those responsible for the continuance of those disorders with the object of compelling at any rate the passive co-operation of the Arab population at large. In short the situation which has been created is a direct challenge to the authority of the British Government in Palestine. "On the 18th of May the then Secretary of State for the Colonies announced in the House of Commons that His Majesty's Government had decided that it was desirable that a full enquiry on the spot should be undertaken but that the first step must be the re-establishment of law and order; and that after order had been restored it was their intention to advise His Majesty to appoint a Royal Commission which would, without bringing into question the fundamental terms of the Mandate, investigate the causes of unrest and any alleged grievances either of the Arabs or the Jews. "On the 29th of July the personnel of the Royal Commission was announced in the House of Commons together with its terms of reference which are as follows:--
"This is the condition essential to enable it to perform its duties effectively. Unhappily, however, the Arab leaders have taken up the position that they will not end the strike until fundamental changes have been introduced by the British Government in its policy with regard to Palestine, and, notwithstanding the announcement of the personnel and the terms of reference of the Royal Commission, the strike has continued accompanied by outrages of ranging degrees of intensity in many parts of the country. All efforts to introduce a reasonable spirit of accommodation have hitherto failed. "Well-disposed Arab rulers and notabilities in neighbouring countries have from time to time expressed willingness to use their influence in attempts at conciliation. The King of Saudi Arabia offered the use of his good offices acting in concert, if their co-operation could be secured, with other Arab rulers. Unfortunately conditions have continued to be such that it has not been found possible to make any successful progress by this means. A public-spirited attempt has also been made by His Highness the Amir of Trans-Jordan, but this likewise has proved fruitless. A further recent initiative in the same direction has been taken by General Nuri Pasha es Said, Foreign Minister of 'Iraq. Protracted discussions by him with the Palestine Arab leaders have led to no satisfactory result, for the Palestine Arab leaders issued on the 31st of August a manifesto declaring that they would continue the strike until their aims had been attained. "Despite General Nuri Pasha's intervention, daily outrages and other instances of grave disorders have continued unabated, and after a careful review of the whole situation, His Majesty's Government are satisfied that the campaign of violence and threats of violence, by which the Arab leaders are attempting to influence the policy of His Majesty's Government, cannot be allowed to continue and more rapid and effective action must now be taken in order to bring the present state of disorder to an end with the least possible delay. With this end in view, it has been considered essential to send further substantial reinforcements to Palestine. An additional division of troops is accordingly being sent there. In view of the size of the reinforcements and of the additional responsibilities entailed, it has been decided that the supreme military control in the country shall be entrusted to a Lieutenant- General. The officer selected to command is Lieutenant-General J. G. Dill, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., late Director of Military Operations and Intelligence at the War Office. "His Majesty's Government deeply regret that such decisions should have been forced upon them. Great Britain accepted the Mandate for Palestine upon terms which involve responsibility for the welfare of all sections of the population of Palestine. They regard this responsibility as a trust which they have no choice but to carry out. In this connection it is appropriate to recall that in their report to the Council of the League of Nations in 1930, the Permanent Mandates Commission stated that in their view the following two assertions accurately express what they conceived to be the essence of the Mandate of Palestine:--
(2) that the dual obligations imposed upon the Mandatory are in no sense irreconcilable.
"It has been the constant aim of British policy to secure and maintain relations of friendship and confidence with the Moslem peoples. For this reason, apart from all others, they would have wished to avoid by all possible means the course of action which has now been forced upon them. But no Government, least of all a Government exercising mandatory responsibilities, can allow themselves to be deflected from their course by violence and outrages. It is still their hope, however, that when those who are disturbing the peace of Palestine have been brought to realize that their present actions are inimical to the true interests of all sections of the population and to the country as a whole, and that the Mandatory Government is determined to exercise its authority with impartiality and justice, it will be possible to ascertain whether any legitimate grievances or fears for the future exist on the part of either Arabs or Jews and to make recommendations for their removal with a view to establishing more cordial and peaceful relations between all concerned. His Majesty's Government are convinced that these objects are attainable within the framework of the Mandate which they have no intention of abandoning. "It is the confident hope of His Majesty's Government that the Royal Commission will make recommendations which will enable His Majesty's Government to bring finality to a situation of doubts and fears on both sides and that out of the tragic misunderstandings and disorders of the last five months a lasting settlement can be reached." This statement was simultaneously published as an Official Communiqué of the Palestine Government and five days later, on 12th September, the High Commissioner summoned the members of the Arab Higher Committee before him. In the course of the interview, he emphasized the forbearance which had been shown by the Government in the past and stated that more drastic military action would be taken to restore order. He urged the Committee to issue a call for the cessation of the strike and disorders while there was yet time. At the same time, District Commissioners held meetings with local notables whom they advised in the same sense. 68. Lieutenant-General Dill arrived in Jerusalem on the 13th September and assumed duty as General Officer Commanding in Palestine and Trans-Jordan on the 15th September. The military reinforcements from England began to reach Palestine shortly afterwards, and by the end of the first week in October all had arrived. 69. Meanwhile the Arab Higher Committee were in constant communication with Their Majesties King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, King Ghazi of `Iraq, the King of the Yemen, and His Highness the Amir Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. On the 8th October the Committee received a communication from King Ibn Saud and on the 9th October from King Ghazi and the Amir Abdullah. All three communications were couched in identical language.
On the 10th October, the Arab Higher Committee issued a manifesto which, after citing the text of the communications which they had received from the three Arab Rulers, continued in the following terms:--
The response to this manifesto was immediate; work was resumed generally through the country; and with the exception of a few minor incidents, disorders ceased, and after a month it was possible to make arrangements for the return to England of the reinforcements which had been sent out to Palestine two months before. By the end of the year almost all the units of the additional division had left the country. 70. On the 29th October, the High Commissioner, in a broadcast message, announced the imminent departure from London of the Royal Commission which arrived in Palestine on 11th November, 1936. 71. On the 5th November the Secretary of State made the following statement in the House of Commons:--
"As the House is aware, the Royal Commission is leaving for Palestine today and His Majesty's Government have carefully considered whether or not there should be a temporary suspension of immigration while the Commission is carrying out its enquiry. They have decided that a temporary suspension of immigration would not be justifiable on economic or on other grounds. It is the view of His Majesty's Government that, if any drastic departure from the immigration policy hitherto pursued were now to be introduced in advance of the findings of the Royal Commission, this would involve an alteration in the exis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
