PALESTINE TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 10

PALESTINE TO-DAY

THE IMPERIAL GARRISON

TO GUARD THE SUEZ CANAL

PROGRESS IN TRANSJORDANIA.

The conclusion of peace with Turkey has brought about the final departure from Palestine of the Indian troops, writes a correspondent in the "Manchester Guardian." For some time the Imperial garrison in Palestine, apart from the Air Force and the armoured cars attached to it, consisted of a regiment of Indian infantry and a regiment ,-of Indian cavalry. ■ Now, British troops released from .Constantinople have taken the place of the Indians. It has for a long time been the desire of the military authorities to put an end to the war practice of distributing Indian troops broadcast, and to concentrate them in India. So far as Palestine is concerned this has been done. People are asking whether the military changes are not going to be earned a good deal farther. Borne day or other the British forces now in E"°ypt will have to,be reduced to a garrison in the Canal-zone.. It is generally conceded that strategic needs .will require a larger force for the protection of the Oanal than can be conveniently stationed on the Canal itself. There are no two opinions that for training purposes and hygienic reasons Palestine would make the most convenient base, for such a force. The military centre of Palestine to-day is at Surafend, which is in the immediate neighbourhood of Ludd Ludd^s the junction of the Kantara (Egypt)-Haiia line and the Jaffa-Joru-salem line.,' The Surafend camp has direct railway connection with Kantara on the Canal, -and, in" a < f«v\hours troops could .be pushed down.- from Surafend to the Canal. It may be added in parentheses that the French in Syria are now taking in hand the railway line from Aleppo to Beirut, which, will be- followed by one from Beirut to Haifa-(a good road is slowly pushed forward from Haifa to Beirut), When these links are completed there will be direct railway communication between Constantinoplel and Kantara. ■-, ■ - A NEW- ALDERSHOT. Surafend is well supplied with water and there isa good deal of oper. ground 'or.,, man? eu™»S- The tro °P3 are healthy there and the, country round fw ri "* Of a spoking character, so that life is quita agreeable. Within a few kilometres of Surafend is Raraleh where .are the. headquarters of the Air iorce. Quite extensive permanent quarters have already been built at, Kamleh and are now under construction at Surafend. At Ramleh no expense has been I spared. I believe, the houses are fitted Z ! H-ffin l,' heaUng' alth°*Sh it would be difficult |to count on the fingers-of I one hand the number of chilly nights"'at Ra^nleh. At Surafend a considerable electric plant has been put' up, although it is.dimcult to believe that an economical arrangement could not have been made with the Rutenberg Company, nW 116'f P°H l' dn °L tile Air Force in «'i3 part of the world is , a 'little curious. Aot only is it .extensively represented--in Palestine, but there is,an Air Force squadron with armoured;'cars at Am.taan. -The theory is that.they arc-to keep the air route open to Bagdad, but they also are there to lend more than moral support to the Emir Abdullah. When a few weeks ago_ the Adwan tribe rose against the Emir, it was the armoured cars which routed it before the Translctt a nmiVf aT 617- and P°lic- e Sot into X, J, Adwams sto°d UP quite well to the cars; a few of them were shot with revolvers from the cars and the cars showed several score bulletmarks. I believe that in strict the6ry the Air Force and the armoured cars are not to be used m the domestic affairs of wL nffl exc£ pt ™der Ol<ders from the of the High Commissioner. On this occasion they appear to have acted under the instructions o f Major-General Tudor, the Officer Commanding in Palestine.THE ÜBIQUITOUS RIFLE. I .have just been over to Transjordama. Amman, the capital, can be reached by car from Jerusalem in four hours or so. When one looks1 across from Jerusalem to the blue hills of Moab, they appear- remote, romantic, and .fascinating, and most people must have felt the, pull of the desire to penetrate them. To-day it is really a very simple,and peaceful affair: You drive by a very good road down to Jericho and thence by a tolerable track to the Allenby Bridge across the, Jordan; There are very few formalities at the bridge except taking your name, and across the other side the road is hardly worse than it is on the1 Palestine side. There is a certain amount of game in the valley itself, and if you are both lucky and skilful you may get a fair bag of partridges without troubling to get down from the car itself. . .On the Trans-jor-danian side a stream runs down from the hills all the way from Amman to the Jordan, and the fishing is by no means bid. But the feature of the Trans Jordanian landscape that most strikes you is the übiquitous rifle. Every peasant, every man driving a camel or donkey, -has a gun slung to his back. The Emir has not tried to break the age-long tradition of this part of the world that the free man carries arms. He knows that he is not strong enough to, ..guarantee security, so that he will not deprive the individual of the possibility, of protecting. himself. As every-! body carries arms, everybody is rather slow to -use them.1 Of course there are occasional raids across . the Palestinian frontier, but these are decreasing. Transjordania still" is . a refuse "for'the criminals of Palestine and Syria. man who commits a murder or a burglary promptly makes a beeline for Trans-joi-dania. ' Still, if;' must, bo admitted1 that extradition is easier arid more frequent now than it was.- :, - ' .CIRCASSIAN POLICE. ■•• This is due to the presence of a British adviser in Amman and to the rapid improvement of the police force under Peake Jasha. The Transjordanian'police and gendavmery now' number about 1300, of whom quite a considerable fraction are recruited, from Circassians There are Circassian settlements and villages on the road, up to Amman and in other parts of the country. The Circassians are Moslem immigrants from the Caucasus'after' thq war of 3878 They still wear the fur cap and the long boots which one usually associates 'with the Russian' mpujik, and they hear themselves quite differently from the people around them.. There .neyer has been much- love, lost between.'trjesp'vsettlers (who are colonised, on lands'taken from others) ami. their neighbours. ... But they are excellent fighting' men ' and make very ,good mounted'police-; they will not serve in the'foot police., The police, like other public services in Transjordanin, are suffering. just now from lack of funds.' The principal source'of .-.revenue.'in Transjo'r'da'niu is the title., The fall in prices' and,the competition of Australian JJo.ur has-made it. very difficult' for' the Transjordanian peasant to sell his cereals, his main

crop, and there is a corresponding difficulty in getting m taxes. There is also a very considerable need of a reform in the system of taxation. The Adwan trouble was really at the bottom one of finance. The Adwanis complained that t'^e Beni Sakher were paying less than themselves or even receiving subsidies. This is almost inevitable until the Emir has a sufficient force to defy the more powerful tribes. It will take a long time before he is strong enough for that. This winter , the police are going to take in hand the reassessing of the Kerak district; there may be trouble there. MECCA AND THE- KHALIFATE. I do not think that there is any ground at present for fear from the Wahabis. A year ago! they pushed up from the Nejd country, into Transjordania, but now Ibu Saoud has his own troubles. A few weeks ago the Hedjaz forces inflicted a smart defeat upon him, and Nejd is suffering from famine. The association between Transjordania, Iraq, and Hedjaz, is fairly close. I think it is true that in all these countries tha prayers are said for King Hussein, and, in effect, his pretensions to be Khalif are recognised. Although the British Government is careful not to deal with the question, Me^-a and Constantinople are disputing the Khalifate. It will be interesting to observe what effect the proclamation of the Turkish ■ Republic will have upon the development of this controversy, Turkey has been reduced to a State with a very' small population; the .republican form is difficult to reconcile with the pretensions to the Khalifate, and if only the Arab countries can work together and act with common prudence Mecca has an excellent chance against Constantinople. A visitor to Amman is reminded of the possibilities of the country. The whole plateau is good and healthy land, which gets better as you go north. Ajlun is a land of numerous villages and orchards, and Hauran is famous for s its wheat. The desert is only a mile *or two east of Amman, : but Amman must oncethave been a centre of wealth and culture, and the ruins still stand of a magnificent Roman amphitheatre, still impressive after serving for centuries as a quarry for the citizens of Amman. What once was might will again be if a peace could be established such as the Romans kept. " : , : . ■ .