Churchill, Palestine and Zionism, 1904-1922 - Douglas J. Feith

Palestine and Zionism, 1904-1922 233
openly been training a Jewish self-defense corps, which went into action
when the riot began. Immediately thereafter, the authorities arrested
defense corps personnel, including Jabotinsky. His trial was under way
by 13 April and, less than a week later, this founder of Britain's Jewish
legion, who fought in the Great War as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers,
was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude (for possession of a revolver;
providing arms "with the evil intent of bringing about rapine,
pillage, devastation"; and conspiracy).6o Jabotinsky's treatment was protested
in the House of Commons; Lord Cecil disapproved in particular
that the Zionist leader's sentence was the same as that for the two Arabs
who had raped the Jewish girls. 61
openly been training a Jewish self-defense corps, which went into action
when the riot began. Immediately thereafter, the authorities arrested
defense corps personnel, including Jabotinsky. His trial was under way
by 13 April and, less than a week later, this founder of Britain's Jewish
legion, who fought in the Great War as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers,
was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude (for possession of a revolver;
providing arms "with the evil intent of bringing about rapine,
pillage, devastation"; and conspiracy).6o Jabotinsky's treatment was protested
in the House of Commons; Lord Cecil disapproved in particular
that the Zionist leader's sentence was the same as that for the two Arabs
who had raped the Jewish girls.
On 26 April, Meinertzhagen added a stunning entry to his diary:
61
On 26 April, Meinertzhagen added a stunning entry to his diary:
It gave me a shock when I found that officers of the British Administration were
actively implicated and plotting against their own government. I warned both
Allenby and [Major General Sir Louis] Bois [who had replaced Money as the chief
of the Palestine administration] but they preferred silence to exposure; I wrote a
private and secret letter to [foreign secretary] Lord Curzon just before the Jerusalem
riots at Easter, setting out the following information ....
[Colonel] Waters-Taylor [chief of staff to Bois] saw Haj al Amin [who later
became grand mufti] on the Wednesday before Easter and told him that he had
a great opportunity at Easter to show the world that the Arabs of Palestine would
not tolerate Jewish domination in Palestine; that Zionism was unpopular not only
with the Palestine Administration but in Whitehall and if disturbances of sufficient
violence occurred in Jerusalem at Easter, both General Bois and General
Allenby would advocate the abandonment of the Jewish Home. Waters-Taylor
explained that freedom could only be attained through violence.
On the day of the rioting the following notice was displayed all over Jerusalem:
"The Government is with us, Allenby is with us, kill the Jews; there is no punishment
for killing Jews." ...
On the day of the rioting Waters-Taylor absented himself in Jericho for the day.
Two days after the rioting he sent for the Mayor of Jerusalem-Moussa Kasim
Pasha-and said "1 gave you a fine opportunity; for five hours Jerusalem was without
military protection; I had hoped you would avail yourself of the opportunity
but you have failed." This conversation was confirmed from two sources. 62
It gave me a shock when I found that officers of the British Administration were
actively implicated and plotting against their own government. I warned both
Allenby and [Major General Sir Louis] Bois [who had replaced Money as the chief
of the Palestine administration] but they preferred silence to exposure; I wrote a
private and secret letter to [foreign secretary] Lord Curzon just before the Jerusalem
riots at Easter, setting out the following information ....
[Colonel] Waters-Taylor [chief of staff to Bois] saw Haj al Amin [who later
became grand mufti] on the Wednesday before Easter and told him that he had
a great opportunity at Easter to show the world that the Arabs of Palestine would
not tolerate Jewish domination in Palestine; that Zionism was unpopular not only
with the Palestine Administration but in Whitehall and if disturbances of sufficient
violence occurred in Jerusalem at Easter, both General Bois and General
Allenby would advocate the abandonment of the Jewish Home. Waters-Taylor
explained that freedom could only be attained through violence.
On the day of the rioting the following notice was displayed all over Jerusalem:
"The Government is with us, Allenby is with us, kill the Jews; there is no punishment
for killing Jews." ...
On the day of the rioting Waters-Taylor absented himself in Jericho for the day.
Two days after the rioting he sent for the Mayor of Jerusalem-Moussa Kasim
Pasha-and said "1 gave you a fine opportunity; for five hours Jerusalem was without
military protection; I had hoped you would avail yourself of the opportunity
but you have failed." This conversation was confirmed from two sources. 62
Responding to Meinertzhagen's criticism, Lieutenant General William
Congreve, the Cairo-based commander of British forces in Egypt and
Palestine, wrote to Allenby, by way of explanation, that "the majority of
Englishmen have an inherited feeling against the Jew" and "a sympathy
with the possessor of the soil." Allenby, in turn, wrote to Curzon: "A
60 Joseph B. Schechtman, Rebel and Statesman: The Early Years-The Life and Times of
Vladimir Jabotinsky (Silver Spring, Maryland: Eshel Books, 1986), 337-8.
61 Ibid., 350. 62 Meinertzhagen, Middle East Diary, 81-2.