POSITION OF U.K. TROOPS IN PALESTINE

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5299, 11 January 1947, Page 7

POSITION OF U.K. TROOPS IN PALESTINE

m A HATED ARMY WITHOUT AN ENEMY In the suecessive waves of strife which have swept over Palestine since it was placed under British Mandate after the First World War, little publicity has been given to the unenviable position of the British garrison troops. I Yet in all its history the British Army has seldom had duties so delicate or dissatisfying.

1 'It fights no open war, and there- , fore its hands are tied; at the same . time it has to meet skill and deception i and a hostility more insidious than I | direct attack. Should its individual J members, through fnustration, then give reign to emotional impulse, it ! receives rigid criticism from its own side. The Army is the .right arm, sometim.es almost the wihole body, of the Government, but it eannot be the controlling brain or enjoy freedom to do as it might think fit. The British administration in Palestine is not military but civilian, in spite of what is often said to the contrary. The High Commissioner, tbough j himself a soldier of long experience and wel'l aware how the soldier feels, tries to see problems as a j civilian and to temper armed strategy with political consciousness. Serving military men rarely understand politics, nor claim to do so; and politics are more difficult in Palestine than almost anywhere else in the world. The civil Government is in aJUithority over the Army, but the details and the execution of its directives rnust be left to the military commanders. Divergences creep in, just as in the Army itself instances can be found of lower ranks failing to observe faithfully the orders they have had from above. In time of peace, armed forces are maintained to carry out a civilian j policy; and the world knows that what Palestine lacks above all else is a policy. Until it is found the Army is wit'hout proper guudance, and yet it is an indispensable mainsay of the interim Government. When a policy has been found, the means whereby it will 'be tested and linally establishdd will still depend Iargely on military savpport, because J it will probably have to be imposed. Since it must take shape in some form of ccympromise between the Arabs and the Jews, resistance of some kind will come from both sides. Vicious Circle

Because the British garrison is so essential it is important to know exactly where it stands in the country to-day. Briefly, the military are unpopular with-the Jews, and the Jews are unpopular with the military. The Army is caught inevitably in a vicious circle of terrorism, curfew, searches, j arrests, in'terrogations, detention, deportation, complaints of oppression, mutual personal hostility between j citizen and soldier. Jews and Arabs and British will never agree which of these stages 01* antagonisms, comes tirst. The Army is .stretched roond the circle, and nothing but a wise and determined political plan will break the- sequence. The Army, the Arabs and the Jews I rub up against one another and ruh the wrong* way. The Army, is required to establish the road blocks, search the houses, impose the curfews, fence oif the buildings, and effect the_ arrests of persons later to be detained J without trial. This dention without trial is not the responsibility of the I Army; it is merely one more segment J in the vicious circle. Including about 300 men who have been deported to Eritrea, more than 1000 persons are now in dention camps. Some are still the subject of investigations. The rei mainder are being "administratively detained-," as the expression now goes, which means that they are being held 011 suspicion'.

No one here likes the taste of this, but neither the military nor the legal branches of the administration can find an altemative to it in face of terrorism. Whatever the cause of terrorism may be, it is their task to prevent it. They lind it 'almost impossihle to bring arrested men to trial because no one will give evidence for , the prosecution, and they have had to rearrest many whom they had once released. The single member of the gang who died in the attack of the King David Hotel was identified as a man who had been released but had to report to the police every day. He reported daily while preparing for the ou'trage. This sort of experience has made the Government reluctant to release detained men on parole. Carries Rifle Always As the most obvious and vulnerable link in this chain, the soldier is unpopolar. Sometimes he aggrevates the public tension by being heavy handed. He wears a military uniform, and he has normal personal feelings. He lives in the same tension. He is equally irritated at having to erect barbed wire and barricades and be ever on guard behind them; and he finds no pleasure in carrying a rifle wherever he goes when off duty taking care never to walk alone. When he lets his mind dwell on the .imirders of his comrades in this country he becomes plainly hostile. This explains; if it does not exeuse, any signs of anti-Semitism among the British troops in Palestine. Lieuten-ant-'Colonel Charteris, who is now ending a term of duty as chief intelligence officer at Palestine Headquarters, recently spoke on this point. He said that the British soldier was not anti-Semitic, nor was he taught anti-Semitism before he- arrived here. He was speaking the truth. Colonel Chartet-is, who has encouraged everyone, civilian and military, British, Arab and Jew, to' meet him in an exchange of views, was addressing he Middle East Society of Jerusalem, which has been founded foi just such an interchange of ideas and

includes among its members Orientalists, antiquarians, economists, historians, soldiers and officials' of every race in this country. The recent development of this society is a useful reminder that the normal life and government of Palestine goes on, though often hidden by the d'ust of explosions. There has been much feeling lately over the ruthless way in which Jewish settlements have been searched for arms. These searches are to stop. Unless direct evidence links a village with terrorism — unless, for example, it is known that wpnted men are hidding here — the settlements will not be disturbed. Reaction, not action, is the policy at'present. Crime does not I pay, but nor does prolonged police work, and the Government is at last alive to this fact. > Sunnier Side

I From the grim, predominating as- ; pects of Army relations in this counjtry, it is pleasing xo turn to another I and sunnier side which is little known. j The Incorporated Soldiers', Sailors', 'i and Airmen's Help Society has been I an active part of the military organ- ' isation. It has helped many hundred 1 of Jews and Arabs, as well as British and other Allied servicemen. Its con- . tact with the Jewish Agency has continued uninterruptedly since the agency and the Government came dnto conflict. The agency maintains a corresponding department for fhis work, to which many Jews apply direct. Serving men and women, and former servicemen and%omen released or discharged in Palestine, may seek help or advice in resettlement or welfare from the Help Society. The resettlement office 1 of the Labour Department deals with ; straightforward cases, but its scope is 1 limited, ahd many cases arising out of ; the war are not straightforward. The society exists to deal with these, whatever the nationality of applicants.

The Arabs who seek help usuaiiy come from the Transjordan Frontiei Porce, but there are many Jewish, Polish, and other applicants who have seen service outside the Middle East". Some wish to leave Palestine. These consnlt the Help Society rat'her tha the agency, for the agency is sensitive on the subject of migration and kinds ways of discouraging those who have such plans. The number of men in t'his class is probably not more than a few hundred; more would apply if there seemed mueh prospect of success. Decisions by the Help Society are often spontaneus and ingenious. The essence of its work is to aid all who have served in British foi'ces, no rnatter what their nationality or where they were recraited.