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PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
British Deception In National Home Pledge Revealed By Silverfarb
An historically treated British
pledge to the Jewish people for the re-
demption of the Jewish National Home
in Palestine could be treated as a bet-
rayal in important studies conducted by
Dr. Daniel Silverfarb, native Detroit
scholar whose works on the Middle East
have gained wide recognition, including
from scholarly journals in England.
Reviewing the many conflicts that
followed issuance on Nov. 2, 1917 of the
famous statement by Arthur Balfour re-
ferred to as the Balfour Declaration, Dr.
Silverfarb goes into some details about
the British fraternizations with the Arab
states. He details results of his thorough
studies in Britain's Informal Empire in
the Middle East, subtitled "A Case Study
of Iraq, 1929 to 1941" (Oxford University
Press). In his preface, Dr. Silverfarb pro-
vides this succinct summation of his
book:
This work is an account of
Anglo-Iraqi relations from Brit-
ain's decision in 1929 to grant
Iraq independence until the con-
clusion of hostilities between the
two countries in 1941. In particu-
lar, it shows how Britain tried to
maintain its political influence,
economic ascendancy, and
strategic position in Iraq after
independence.
Touching upon results of his re-
searched studies, including the quest for
oil and the involved Palestinian aspects,
Dr. Silverfarb makes the revelation that
Britain had given another pledge to the
Iraqis, who had a role of leadership
among the Arabs. This time it was in
the form of an assurance that there
would be a Palestinian state in ten
years. It was a 1939 pledge and is con-
tained in the following statement in the
Silverfarb volume:
During the 1930s the British
government believed that Iraqi
friendship was necessary in
order to secure important British
strategic and economic interests
in the Middle East. In particular,
Britain wanted to protect its air-
bases in Iraq, its line of com-
munications from the Persian
Gulf across Iraq to the Mediter-
ranean Sea, its preponderant
share of the Iraqi import market,
the Iraq Petroleum Company's
large oilfield in northern Iraq
and oil pipeline across Iraq to
the Mediterranean, and the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's
large oilfield in southwestern
Iran and oil refinery at Abadan.
Consequently, in various
ways during this period Britain
accommodated and appeased the
different Iraqi governments in an
effort to acquire and maintain
their friendship. For example,
Britain terminated the mandate
long before it was legally obli-
gated to do so; withdrew all of its
ground troops in Iraq; withdrew
from its airbases at Mosul and
Hinaidi; reduced the number of
levies to a very low figure and
agreed to convert them into an
air defense force that would be,
at least nominally, part of the
Iraqi army; provided Iraq with
modern military equipment and
sizable financial credits; discour-
aged Kurdish efforts to achieve
independence or autonomy and
in 1932 actively participated to-
gether with the Iraqi army in
military operations against Kur-
dish dissidents; refused to sup-
port Assyrian attempts to estab-
lish an autonomous enclave in
northern Iraq and in 1933 re-
fused to intervene with armed
force to protect the Assyrians
when they were under attack
from the Iraqi army; and in 1939
greatly curbed Jewish immigra-
tion into Palestine and agreed to
create an independent Palesti-
nian state within ten years.
Silverfarb's studies incorporated in
his factual accounts of the events out-
lined in his extensive studies include
references to the status of Iraqi Jewry.
Reference is made to the beginning
of the period under review, when there
were 100,000 Jews in Iraq. He states
No End To Memory
Of Ritual Murder Lies
Resort by bigoted Russians and
some Arabs to a revival of the ritual
murder charge in fomenting hatred of
Jews is among the shocking occur-
rences in the present era that is gener-
ally viewed as "progressive."
Added to that shocking resort to an
inhuman practice is the frequent re-
minder of actual occurrences which
have put church people to shame.
An important article in the New
York Times (Sept. 30) by Michael
Kaufman, headlined "Jews Return To
Examine Poland's Past," contains facts
about Cracow, source of the story. It
deals with personalities and experi-
ences about the Cracow community
which has a notable "past" history.
Among the most saddening emph-
ases of the current situation revealed
in the Kaufman article is the decline of
Polish Jewry from its pre-war total of
3,500,000 to 4,000. It is a story of a
wholesale massacre.
Kaufman concluded his report to
the NYTimes with the following:
But an older, uglier con-
sciousness has not entirely van-
2
Friday, October 17, 1986
ished. A few blocks from the
university is an outlet of the
government chain that sells folk
art largely to tourists, many of
whom are Jews going to or
from Auschwitz.
Opposite the front door,
among displays of painted eggs,
carvings and rugs, hung a Naive
painting showing a bearded
Jew, handing a baby to the de-
vil. On the canvas the painter
had scrawled a quatrain ex-
plaining the scene in terms of
the blood libel, which once in-
spired pogroms. He wrote:
The Jew sells the child to the
devil
And gives the devil his soul
The devil pays in gold
The child he will later devour.
There is no end to tragic horror in
such memories. Hopefully they will
awaken human conscience never to
permit repetition of such resorts to lies
that have inspired pogroms.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
that Jews, now practically nonexistent in
Iraq, like the other minorities, the
non-Moslems, were well disposed
toward Britain and did not want the
mandate to end. The Jews, for example,
a community of about 100,000 who re-
sided mainly in Baghdad, were heavily
involved in trading activities, had espe-
cially good relations with the British."
Iraq's close alliance with Nazi Ger-
many is touched upon as an indication of
the threats that faced Jews in the post-
mandate era.
Oil had an important influence upon
Iraqi policies and the British involve-
ment. The functions of th oil lines from
Basra to Haifa and the Iraqis domina-
tion in the Arab world of that period are
importantly noted by Silverfarb, in this
statement relating to the availability of
oil during the Second World War period:
It was over Palestine that
British and Iraqi differences ap-
peared in the most acute form. In
April 1936 the Arab population of
Palestine began a general strike
in an effort to halt further Jewish
immigration and secure an inde-
pendent Arab state. Soon the
general strike turned into a
widespread rebellion against
British rule in Palestine.
In June 1936 Nuri al-Said, the
Iraqi foreign minister, proposed
to mediate the conflict on the
basis of a halt to Jewish immi-
gration and the incorporation of
Palestine into an Arab federation
controlled by Iraq. Aside from
promoting Arab independence
and unity, and Iraq's position as
leader of the Arab world, the
success of this scheme would
save Iraq revenue which it was
losing as a result of the damage
inflicted by Arab rebels in Pales-
tine upon the oil pipeline that ran
from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to
the port of Haifa in Palestine. It
would also reduce the likelihood
of riots directed against the
Jewish minority in Iraq, which,
Iraqi leaders feared, might easily
get out of control and turn
against foreign residents or even
against the government itself.
In addition, it would greatly
increase the government's
prestige and strengthen its posi-
tion against its opponents within
Iraq. However, Nuri's plan came
Daniel Silverfarb
to nothing because the Jews re-
fused to stop immigration, and
because Britain was not seriously
prepared to contemplate an Arab
federation.
It should be noted that the under-
ground pipeline to Haifa still exists but
remains unused.
These are among the many other
important aspects of the Anglo-Iraqi in-
volvements, including a brief war be-
tween the two in 1941 that ended suc-
cessfully and briefly in Britain's favor.
Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia,
which demanded all out military action
in the USSR must have interfered with
German support for her Iraqi ally.
Dr. Silverfarb's impressive research
into the multiple effects on Middle East
history, in this impressive study of
Anglo-Iraqi relations, gains importance
in the foreword by an authoritative sub-
ject. Prof. Majid Khadduri, who dealt
with related subjects extensively as a
Princeton University faculty member for
more than 30 years, states in his com-
mendation of the book:
The material used in the pre-
sent study is drawn primarily
from British official documents
that have been made recently
available to the public as well as
from works by scholars and
Continued on Page 50
A Dodger Coach Followed
Hank Greenberg 's Example
Expressing tributes to the memory
of Hank Greenberg, several weeks ago,
many of his admirers recalled associa-
tion with him and/or impressions of the
famous home run hitter when he was at
the Shaarey Zedek services on Rosh
Hashahah. It is recalled that on that af-
ternoon he hit two homers which won
the pennant for the Tigers.
There was another popular baseball
player who would not play on the Holy
Days. Recollection of him was recalled in
the New York Times Letters page:
In the looming conflict be-
tween the major league playoffs
and World Series with the Jewish
people's Days of Awe, Jake Pitler
(1894-1968) deserves his moment
of historical recognition.
Not for his accomplishments
as a player is Mr. Pitler remem-
bered. He was unheralded in 111
major league games, mostly at
second base, for the Pittsburgh
Pirates in 1917 and 1918. His
lifetime batting average was .232;
of his 89 hits, only 13 were for
extra bases, and none were home
runs.
Jake Pitler achieved a mod-
icum of fame in the 1950s as
first-base coach for the Brooklyn
Dodgers by absenting himself
from his accustomed post on
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
the team's announcer's — Vin
Sculley, Connie Desmond or Red
Barber — would dutifully explain
exactly why coach Pitler was not
present. Hence Jake Pitler al-
ways made me proud as a
youngster because he connected
two things that were important to
Continued on Page 50