Cites Provocative Articles in Arab Press, Warnings in Jewish Press; Government Could Not Have Been U

Pointing out that for almost a year the Arab press in Palestine had been replete with provocative stories about the Jews and that the Jewish press had repeatedly warned of an impending disaster, Sir Boyd Merriman, counsel for the Jews in the Inquiry Commission’s hearings in Palestine, brought to a conclusion his nine-hour cross-examination of H. C. Luke. Acting High Commissioner at the time of the outbreaks, Luke was the last government witness and it is possible that the Mufti will be the first Arab witness to be called to the stand.

A calmer atmosphere prevailed at yesterday’s session when Merriman introduced extracts from the Arab press as far back as Yom Kippur 1928, all of which were full of inciting articles, including the calls for a Holy war, and extracts from the Jewish papers, “Davar” and “Ha’Aretz”, warning the government of an impending disaster.

Luke testified that the situation just before the outbreak, in his opinion, was getting better, and that since he was no prophet he had not called the troops earlier. This was an important admission since Captain Playfair, commandant of the Royal Air Forces in Transjordania, had testified that the disaster might have been avoided if the trops had been called a day earlier.

Through Luke’s testimony, Merriman cleared up the question of the Mufti’s tenure of office, implying that this was probably one of the causes of the agitation over the Wailing Wall, since the Mufti desired to unite all of the Moslems. Luke refused to commit himself as to whether there was anything in the Zurich resolution inconsistent with the position of the Zionist Executive as a body with the official right of tendering advice on Jewish matters in Palestine.

The proceedings began with a reading of the Palestine government’s telegram to the Colonial Office reporting the Safed outrage as follows: “Disorders broke out in Safed on the evening of the 29th. Troops previously enroute to Palestine have arrived. Two Moslems have been killed, and four wounded. It is rumored that 20 Jews have been killed and 40 wounded. Houses are still burning”.

Merriman said nothing about the cable’s text which bulked the Moslem casualties inflicted by the troops with “rumored” Jewish casualties, leaving the Commission to decide the correctness of such wording.

Luke told about detailing police reinforcements at the Wailing Wall since May when the Moslem construction work began and he mentioned minor incidents at the Wall. He admitted that no letter had been sent to the Chief Rabbinate denying their contention that the prohibition of the Shofar blowing had resulted from Moslem threats. He also acknowledged that there was no incitement more dangerous to Palestine than supposed attacks on Moslem holy places.

Following this admission, Merriman read numerous extracts from “El Yarmuk” and other Arab newspapers threatening the Jews because of “the covetousness of greedy Jews and their mischievous and disgraceful attempts on the Mosque.” One Arab paper reminded the Arabs that “Paradise lies beneath the shadow of the sword” and another

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urged that “it was time to leave off idle talk and that it was time for action against the oppressors and colonizers.”

Although he admitted that these extracts were fair examples from the Arab press, Luke did not recall that a single Arab paper had been prosecuted for incitement. He also did not dissent from Merriman’s hypothesis that in dealing with the people of Eastern countries it is important that the government make clear that it intends to take strong measures against lawlessness.

Replying to Merriman’s question as to whether any steps had been taken to make clear to the Arabs that the government did not intend to allow an outbreak, Luke said, that one couldn’t know that outbreaks would happen. To the further question as to whether he anticipated the possibility of outbreaks Luke admitted that there was always the possibility of outbreaks in Palestine. Luke admitted that the situation was certainly more tense after August 16, in response to Merriman’s query as to whether he was saying that there was no more possibility of an outbreak than usual after the 16th.

At this point Merriman introduced a discussion regarding the powers of the district commissioner, under the prevention of crimes ordinance to deal with anyone likely to commit a breach of the peace, by binding him over for a year.

Assistant Attorney General Drayton interrupted to explain that the district commissioners exercised authority in connection with this law more frequently than the district courts, the interruption helping Merriman’s point that the district commissioners could have dealt with agitators.

Merriman stressed the point that the witness had said that as chief of the government he had not expected anything to happen as late as noon on Friday, August 23, because Cust, Acting Governor of Jerusalem, had told him that the villagers were soon going back home home and that things were quieting down. Merriman asked Luke how he could reconcile such assurance with the “Davar’s” warning of August 21st, that a “secret hand was apparently not leaving any stone unturned to disturb the peace” and reporting that there were some among the Hebronites who had not participated in the previous disturbances, who had been told that the Jews would attack the Mosque and urging the Moslems to come to Jerusalem to defend the holy places.

Luke did not remember hearing or seeing this warning nor that in the “Ha’ Aretz” of the following day reporting the absence of the Arab women produce vendors in the Jerusalem market. Merriman also reminded Luke of the interview with the executive of the Vaad Leumi, the Palestine National Council, who warned Luke of grave rumors about an impending outbreak the next day. Luke could not recall that the delegation had told him that the Arabs were beginning to arrive armed with daggers and clubs and begging him to order the police to disarm them. He did remember that he had told the deputation that the armored cars had been ordered to Ramleh but he did not promise to disarm the villagers because Assistant Secretary Mills had pointed out that such action would be too dangerous. He also recalled asking the Mufti to deliver a calming address on Thursday and a calming sermon on Friday and a similar request to the Rabbis for Saturday, ironically enough, the day of the fateful Hebron massacre.

Luke could not recall the Jewish deputation that on Saturday had complained because the armored cars did not have orders to fire. He admitted that he had not ordered any reinforcements except the armored cars. To the question of why he had not called for more reinforcements, he explained, that he had no evidence of a disturbance and he had reason to suppose that the tension was easier. Since he had been able to bring the Moslems and Jews together for a conference this was all that he could do under the circumstances, he said, without more definite information.

Here Merriman read Captain Playfair’s evidence, saying that a successful attempt to prevent the disturbance could have been made if he had been called earlier. To Merriman’s question as to why Playfair had not been called sooner, Luke replied that he was no prophet, and went out of his way to explain that troops did not necessarily prevent outbreaks, citing the Jaffa riots of 1921 despite the presence of a division of troops in the country.

Merriman established that the decision to disarm the Jewish special deputies had been made on August 27, when Luke “had a pretty clear idea as to who had been attacked and who were the attackers.” The counsel for the Jews pounded away on the point that among the disarmed Jews there were a number of Britishers, some in the civil service and some of them people like his friend Horowitz and also a brother of the Attorney General. Merriman charged that they had been disarmed because the Mufti said that disorders would occur unless that was done.

To this Luke replied : “My sole concern then was with security and human lives and not with feelings.” He claimed that he had to take a difficult decision, one of the most painful and most difficult decisions he ever had to take. To the question “Was it implicit in your decision that you anticipated that there would be bloodshed?” Luke did not reply, but re-read General Dobbie’s letter dated August 28, the day after the disarming, which said : “No Jewish personnel should be employed as special constables in order that the Arabs may be assured that no Jews are being employed by the government in that capacity.”

Merriman brought out the fact that the abortive peace meeting between Arabs and Jews in Luke’s house was held at the instance of Horowitz, acting on behalf of the Palestine Zionist Executive. At the time Horowitz made it clear that the temporary Executive could not agree to a binding decision regarding the Wailing Wall, and he asked Luke to convey this to the Arabs. It was also made known that Luke had agreed that separate drafts of the resolutions should be drawn up by the Arabs and by the Jews. The cross-examination was concluded undramatically by Merriman mentioning another peace meeting scheduled to be held the following Monday, but which was never held.

Moslem theology and mythology were introduced into the hearings of the Parlimentary Commission of Inquiry by William Henry Stoker, counsel for the Arabs, when he undertook the cross-examination yesterday afternoon of Luke, after Merriman had completed his cross-examination.

To the amusement of the Commission, Mr. Stoker introduced as evidence of the immediate causes of the outbreak, Jewish household decorations showing views of Solomon’s Temple, Rachel’s tomb, as well as a copy of “Dos Yiddische Folk” of April 13, 1920, containing a cartoon of a vision of Theodor Herzl, showing the founder of political Zionism leading a throng of Jews into a building which Stoker said was the Haram area. The cartoon was passed around to the Commissioners, Snell remarking that it bears not the slightest resemblance to the Haram area, while Shaw observed that the building looks like the National Gallery.

One of the principal points of the discussion was the tethering of the mythical horse of Mohammed, El Burak, inside the masonry of the Wailing Wall, during his halt in Jerusalem on his mythical journey heavenwards, on the basis of which the Moslems make their religious claims to the Wailing Wall.

In response to an inquiry from Stoker, Luke said that El Burak was buried inside the masonry of the Wailing Wall, on a level higher than the pavement of the Wall, but lower than the pavement of the Haram area. El Burak, Luke said, is part of the Wailing Wall, but not part of the pavement on which the Jews stand. Stoker extracted from Luke a lecture on the Zahweih, or Moslem parish church.

Turning to other matters, Luke, in response to Stoker’s questioning, declared that the Moslems and the Jews had been asked to produce documents supporting their claims to the Wailing Wall. The Rabbinate, he stated, was unable to show that the Jews were authorized to use benches, asking that they should be permitted in the future what they had been permitted in the past. On May 25, Harry Sacher, in behalf of the Zionist Executive, submitted a memorandum to the Palestine Government on the Wailing Wall situation.

R. Hopkin Morris, a member of the

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Commission, interrupted at this point to ask why a religious dispute should be dealt with by a political body. Luke replied that the government accepted Harry Sacher’s letters in the interests of the Jewish case in lieu of other presentations. The Arabs, he said, were worried about the non-implementing of the White Paper concerning the Wailing Wall.

Here, Stoker introduced a book entitled, “Palestine of the Jews-Past, Present and Future,” written by Attorney General Norman Bentwich, and published in 1919, at the time when he was a Colonel with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Stoker quoted from the book immigration figures, passages on the Wailing Wall, and descriptions of the Mosque, in which he said : “The Haram, although remaining a special religious demesne of the Mohammedans, must be open freely to men of all creeds.” Luke pointed out that this had been written before the issuance of the Palestine Mandate and the Churchill White Paper, issued in 1922.

When Stoker declared that the objections of the Arabs to an Attorney General of pronounced Zionist sympathis was comprehensible, Luke asserted : “I wouldn’t call Bentwich a pronounced Zionist,” evidently unaware that Bentwich had declared : “I am a Zionist, first, second and third, and then a Britisher.”

At this point Stoker introduced the samples of Jewish folk art, and the Herzl cartoon, which provoked the mirth of the Commissioners and which drew from Luke the admission that he had been shown these samples by the Grand Mufti.

Luke declared that the Moslem building operations at the Wailing Wall had excited the Jews because it tended to convert the pavement into a thoroughfare. Some of the Jews were really worried, he stated. “I would not say that the others made political capital from it,” he asserted. He declared that he had informed the Grand Mufti that the orchestra which played in the Zahweih, on the eve of Sabbath, was an innovation calculated to annoy the Jewish worshippers and that he had asked the nuisance be abated. The orchestra was not a part of the Orthodox Moslem ritual and the Mufti eventually stopped its playing, he said.