The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-06
Palestine And The Future

ly gain control of the Arab frag-
ment of Palestine. He reports
that the British and American
Governments, and the Jewish
agency as well, have quietly let
Abdulla know that his ambitions
to add the Arab area to his own
somewhat sleazy kingdom will
not be viewed with disfavor. I'm
der any circumstances, there is
little to stand in Abdulla's way
since he has the only really ef-
fective armed force in the Mid
die East, in the army trained
by the fabulous British soldier
of fortune, Club Pasha.
Because of these ambitions,
Abdulla has been notably less
fanatical about partition than
the leaders of other Arab states.
Yet even with Abdulla in control
of Arab Palestine, there will be
no real peace. This is underlined
by the fact that Abdulla's chief
henchman in Arab Palestine,
Toukan, the mayor Of the large
Arab town of Nablus, has al
ready declared a ''jihad," or
holy war, against the Jews. Yet
the Zionist leader is confident
that there will be no massive,
organized assault on the new
Jewish state. Arab action will,
rather, be confined to bloody
sporadic raids on Jewish settle
ments, which the Zionist leader
expects to start almost immedi-
ately.
He is confident that the Ha-
ganah can deal with these at
tacks. The Haganah is now
being expanded and reorganized
to form really effective
striking force.
If the worst comes to the
worst, the Zionist believes that
a spectacular counter-move by
the Haganah, for which tenta-
tive plans are even now being
laid, will silence the Arabs. The
Haganah has already do n
something of the kind, when
Arab attacks against the Jews
started last summer. The
Haganah Immediately put to
death eleven Arabs, including
the ringleaders of the disorders,
and the attacks ceased immedi-
ately. Some such determined
counter-move on a far larger
scale, the Zionist leader be-
ieves, will have the same re-
suit. Then the Jews will be able
to turn to the task of peacably
building their new nation.
That is a Zionist f. ecast of
what lies ahead for the new
state. The non-Zionist M iddle
Eastern expert considers this
forecast vastly optimistic. He
agrees that an organized Arab
military assault on the Jewish
state is unlikely. But he believes
That the ferocious resentment
against partition in the whole
Arab world is vastly underesti-
mated in the United States. He
is certain that the United Ma
lions Palestine commission will
be confronted with growing
chaos from the day of it's ar
rival. Sooner or later the COM
mission will be forced to report
back to the Security Council that
the situation is wholly out of
hand, and that the partition of
Palestine can only be imposed
by armed force. And what. he
asks, happens then?
He is convinced, like most OBJ
servers of events in the Middle
East, that the Soviet Union is
oetermlned eventually to control
ms rich stragic area. He be-
leves that the cl oas which lies
ahead will present the Soviet
Union with its greatest op-
Portunlty to fish in the troubled
Middle Eastern waters. Already
mere nave been reports that the
Sovlets have been playing both
ENDS against the middle, supply
ing the Arabs with arms, and |
lntlltrating agents into Jewish |
'alestine from Rumania.