AN INDEPENDENT PEOPLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 39, 11 January 1944, Page 8

AN INDEPENDENT PEOPLE

NOMAD ARABS OF BENI UIID

During the final stages of tilt? Eighth Army's advance to Tripoli, in January, 1943,, 2 N.Z. Div. aftei" crossing Wadi Zem Zem and passing Sedada, encountered very broken country and wadis which formed impassable obstacles. The only route lay through Be.ni Ulid, where the deep wadi and defiles formed a bottleneck, and where the roads and verges were mined.. The sappers worked hard to clear a passage through the anti-tank mines, <'S" mines and booby traps, and on January 19 the Division passed through Beni Ulid in single file. Thence the divisional axis led north to Tozzoli, near Tarhuna, and on to Azizia.

Until recently an Italian outpost of the province of Misurata Beni Ulid has probably been inhabited by nomadic Arabs for 12 centuries. An offshoot of the Orfclki Tribe which is 20,000 strong, the Arabs and handful of Jews of Beni Ulid live on trade, for in that part of Tripolitania the nomadic tribes live in the villages for perhaps a month in the year and during the other 11 months graze large numbers of camels and gnrw wheilt and barley in Wadis Zem Zem and soeggin.

Unruly Race The Orfc.Ha Arabs have been an unruly race addicted to and they always maintained a very independent attitude towards their Turkish and later their Italian oppressors. To-day, however., they are hospitable well-behaved and strongly pro-British. The story is told by an English officer commanding the post at Ben Ulid when the Germans withdrew before the. advancing New Zealanders. the Arabs hastened their departure by a vigorous discharge of fire-arms. Even to-day the minefields around Beni Ulid are taking their toll of civilian life. Recently eight Arab children were killed while playing near several abandoned Italian M.13 tanks 200 or 1500 yards from their village. One man dragged bis shattered body 10 miles to Bent Ulid and said to an English officer *'1 have been blown up by a mine. Do t get compensation?" lie died a few minutes later. Abandoned Tanks The' enemy abandoned Italian and German tanks in the desert near Beni Ulid. A few of these tanks just to the. north of the town are in good repair. With fuel: they could be driven away, but they are dangerous to approach on account of the "S" mines laid in great numbers in that part of the desert. Apart from occasional accidents in the .minefields, however life is very uneventful at Beni Ulid. The radio is practically the only contact with the outside world; it is by radio that the Arabs are advised of the dates of 'Mohammed-ail leasts and Ramadan. The. Arabs trade with the. Jewish merchants in the market place, plow the fertile land under the olive trees, keep the. birds from the iig trees and, watch their (locks of goats and sheep.

A rare event which causes considerable excitement at Beni Ulid is tlie arrival of a stranger. At once reports conflicting in their evidence., are carried to the ears of the British authorities