June 6. 1941
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
16
PALESTINE
(Continued from Page 1)
when the German-inspired 'holy
war' is unleashed unless the
Jews procure arms to defend
themselves, it is declared by
Agency representatives.
"The Jewish 'home defense'
organization for Palestine must
have at least 50,000 rifles and
ammunition, machine guns and
hand grenades to afford the
necessary protection against the
possible German and Arab at-
tack, these sources say.
"German gun-running, it is
reported, has been steadily in-
creasing in the last few months
until, despite the seizure of mu-
nitions-carrying camel caravans
and British raids on arms caches
in the desert and mountains, the
Germans and their Arab sypma-
thizers are believed to have es-
tablished formidable arsenals in
Palestine.
Nazis Spread Propaganda
"Eye-witnesses from Palestine
testify that the pamphlets and
word-of-mouth stories sent by
German agents are increasingly
effective and that some of the
emotional Arabs are dangerously
inflamed even now.
"Fawzi Bey al Kawkagi, the
Arab disciple of Premier Rashid
Ali Bey Gailani of Iraq and in-
timate of the Mufti of Jerusa-
lem, is identified as the chief
agent assigned by the German
foment revolution in Palestine.
His activities have increased
since the German offensive in
Libya and the Rashid Bey coup
d'etat in Iraq. Fawzi's name is
linked with wild stories circulat-
ing among the Arab tribes of
alleged plans of the Jews to at-
tack the Arabs."
Form Volunteer Force
LONDON. — (Palcor Agency)
—The Palestine Volunteer Force,
consisting of British subjects and
Palestinian citizens, will be fi-
nanced by the Palestine Govern-
ment treasury, it was stated in
the House of Commons by
George Henry Hall, Undersecre-
tary of State for the Colonies,
in replying to a series of ques-
tions on the mobilization of man-
•
power and material for the de-
fense of Palestine.
The first of the queries came
from Laborite David Adams,
who asked whether the govern-
ment had decided to authorize
the formation and arming of a
Palestine volunteer force; of
what nationals it would be com-
posed; what duties were assign-
ed to it, and whether the main-
tenance of such a force would
be wholly charged to the Pales-
tine revenues.
Under the ordinance recently
enacted, Mr. Hall replied, the
Palestine High Commissioner was
empowered to form a force
called the Palestine Volunteer
Force. British subjects and Pal-
estinian citizens are eligible to
join. Its objects are defined as
the assistance of the regular
forces in all measures required
for the prosecution of the war
or to insure internal security.
It is the intention that the cost
of maintaining the force should
be borne by Palestinian funds,
the Colonial Undersecretary
stated.
Mr. Adams asked a second
question—as to whether the mix-
ing of forces, that is the corn-
mingling of Arab and Jewish
units, had been found satisfac-
tory, in view of the hostility of
Arabs to Jewish settlement in
Palestine.
He saw no reason why the
two groups could not work to-
gether, Mr. Hall answered. They
had worked together in the Pal-
estine forces even before the
war, he pointed out.
Miss Eleanor Rathbone, Inde-
pendent, inquired whether the
number of Jewish volunteers was
limited or whether every Jew
wanting to serve was able to do
so.
"The force is limited but not
according to any ratio," she was
told by Mr. Hall, who added
that it was open to British sub-
jects, to Jews and to Arabs to
join.
Laborite Emanuel Shinwell
wanted to know why there was
any limitation whatever on the
size of the force. There is no
use, Mr. Hall replied, in having
volunteers unless there is equip-
ment for them.
The question that is upper-
most with respect to Palestine
at this time in view of the Nazi
drive toward the Near East was
raised by Laborite Philip J.
Noel-Baker, who asked whether
the government expects to in-
crease the British forces in the
Near East and whether all avail-
able military supplies were being
rushed to the Palestine sector
for adequate defense against
any attack.
T h o in a s Levy, Conservative,
inquired why in composing the
Palestine Volunteer Force there
was any limitation on religious
grounds. No answers were forth-
coming from Mr. Hall.
Nazi-Gun-Running to Arabs En-
dangers Unarmed Jews in
Palestine
ANKARA. — (WNS) — The
550,000 Jews in Palestine must
be armed immediately to remove
the threat of anti-Jewish and
anti-British uprisings in Pales-
tine by insurgent Arab bands,
equipped with machine guns and
rifles by Nazi agents, it was re-
ported here.
Reports spread here that Axis
agents stationed in Syria and
Iraq have been smuggling large
quantities of weapons and am-
munition to renegade Arab tribes
in the desert and mountains of
Palestine.
anti - Jewish
intensive
The
propaganda campaign conducted
by the Nazis is becoming in-
creasingly effective mong cer-
tain sections of the Arab popula-
tion, these reports said, and guns
now furnished to the Jewish
community may soon mean the
difference between life and
death.
British Labor Urged to Demand
Change in Britain's Palestine
Policy
LONDON. — (WNS) — Eng-
land's two most influential Jew-
ish newspapers, the Jewish
Chronicle and the Zionist Re-
view, appealed to British labor
to demand that the government
depart from its present policy
of appeasing the Arabs in Pales-
tine at the expense of the Jews.
The Jewish papers timed their
appeals to coincide with the
opening in London of the annual
conference of the British Labor
Party. In its leading editorial,
the Jewish Chronicle declared:
"Hard-headed concern for Pal-
estine regrets the persistence of
the pernicious folly of attempt-
ing gratuitously to appease the
Arabs at the expense of the
Jews, despite the shock of the
Iraqi rising.
"This policy misses no oppor-
tunity to restrict and discourage
Jewish Palestine and reduce its
residents to the status of second-
rate citizens. This crass folly is
expressed in the fantastic irony
of cruel discrimination which
lodges so-called illegal refugee
immigrants in prison if they are
not Jews, but, in the case of
the Poles, granting them special
facilities.
"The same error is responsible
for the refusal to allow the Jews
the elementary right to bear
arms to defend their homes
against the common enemy. The
Jews are heart and soul for
Britain, whatever be the for-
tunes of war, but nobody could
be astonished if willingness to
sacrifice the Jews to any clique
who make themselves a nuisance
will not lead primitive people
everywhere else to decide that
disloyalty is the better-paying
policy."
The Zionist Review said : "In
these days when Jewish life in
Europe is being destroyed and
Palestine is in the danger zone
and the Jews, the first victims of
Nazi aggression, are still waiting
to be recognized as an ally, the
policy of appeasement is still
alive in Palestine and now the
eyes of persecuted, hunted Jew-
ish people are turned again to
the progressive forces of the
world, first of all the great
British labor movement."
Meanwhile, Colonial Undersec-
retary George H. Hall told the
House of Commons that Pales-
tine could not, for reasons of
security, admit all refugees,
whether Jewish or non-Jewish,
from Nazi-occupied territories.
T h e Colonial Undersecretary
made this statement after David
Adams, Laborite, has asked
whether Palestine would provide
a haven for Jewish refugees
from Greece and other Nazi-held
areas in the same manner that
it has given refuge to non-Jew-
ish refugees.
At the same time, Hall denied
reports circulating here that Pal-
estine had interned nine Jewish
refguees who arrived in the Holy
Land after a perilous journey
from Greece in an open boat.
A bright ray in the Palestine
situation was provided by Youth
Aliyah headquarters here which
disclosed that 1,205 young chil-
dren were brought to Palestine
by Youth Aliyah during the first
five months of 1941.
According to figures made
public, 341 came from Hungary,
239 from Yugoslavia, 225 from
Rumania, 150 from Lithuania,
90 from Denmark, 64 from Bul-
garia, 45 from Sweden, 43 from
Turkey, six from Australia, and
one each from Greece and Cyp-
rus.
Honestly
Brewed
•
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Aged
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Copyright 1941, liccrrr &
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•7 : "
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