2 STRONG MEN OF PALESTINE

Hokitika Guardian, 9 December 1929, Page 3

2 STRONG MEN OF PALESTINE

•K.-R.” AND TUB CD AN]) MUFTI. JERUSALEM, October 9. Tiio “ war ” in Palestine lias produced two exceedingly picturesque figures. One is an Englishman, M,r E. KeithRoacli, conimonly called K.-R. by his friends. He is district commissioner for Jerusalem, and to all intents and purposes goteinor of the city. The.'other is Hadj Mohammed Amin el-Huessine,' a member of the great Arab family which lias already given three kings to his warlike race. The Hadj is Grand Mufti of Palestine and as such the religious and political chief of the Arabs, and wields an immensity of power. Plump, almost rotund, with a happy, always smiling face fringed by a carefully tended beard, the Mufti looks anything but the astute and calculating leader ho really is. HIS WORD IS LAW. . Knowing English' he declines to speak it, for being a first-class diplomat he refuses to put his thoughts into any language of which he is.not completely master French, and of course Arabic are the tongues he chooses to use, and to those, .who have, heard his sonorous speech it is no surprise to know that he can sway his co-religionists'like corn in a summer wind, . - . There are those who allege that itwas his eloquence which stirred the Arabs to their deads of violence on the Jewsbut this lie strenuously denies. Within the. Tniram-esch-Selielif, the sacred place of the Moslems in the heart of ol Jerusalem, his word is law, and none of his Ifol lowers dare disobey his lightest command. Visit him in his plain little office the windows of wnich overlook the building in which it is said Jesus Christ was tried before Pontius Pilate. You will find him seated at a very modern desk sadly out of keeping with his historic surroundings.

Siill more incongruous are the wicker garden chairs which surround his room •out tin* Mufti claps his hands and at once the glamour of the East holds sway. A great Arab enters the room and at his master’s holiest offers you 'emonade, cigarettes, and the inevitable Turkish (toffee.

And so you do your business with the Mufti and depart, haunted by tiro memory of a smiling face veiling an inscrutable pe r son a 1 i ty. COURAGE OF “K.R.”

And now the Englishman. It was on the shoulders of Mr Keith-Roach that the great bulk' of responsibility fell when the disturbances broke out in Jerusalem. Tall and loan he is typical olf those thousands of Britons who throughout the world are “baring the white man’s burden” and under the Union Jack administering the affairs of an alien race Liked and respected by Arab and Jew he was here, there and everywhere during the trouble, and while lesser men went armed and peeped about, fearful of what might befall, “K.R” strode about the streets in the thick of the trouble with nothing more formidable than a riding crop. Ask him why he did it and will tell you simply that someone had to “show the flag.” His courage, forbearance and wisdom in the crisis through which Jerusalem h".s been passing have added to his own nopularitv and the prestige of Britain.