Parliament will debate the military situation in Palestine on the eve of the mandate’s expiration, it was revealed here today. A one-and-a-half hour debate on Friday will be followed by questions concerning the disposition of British military forces between May 15 and August 1, when the military evacuation is scheduled to be completed.
Lord Rothermere’s newspapers here, notably the London Daily Mail and the Evening News, which hitherto have been, violently anti-Zionist, today published articles by their Jerusalem correspondents describing how ‘”David is beating Goliath.” the dispatches stress that the Arabs, with a combined population of $1,000,000, are being beaten by the Jews, “whose numbers do not exceed 800,000.”
The “hard fact is,” the correspondents report, that “50,000 Jewish combat troops have used their brains, courage and weapons with great skill and, in fact, the Jews have established a state.” The correspondents declare that if the Jews had not been hold in chock by U.N. political considerations and the presence of British troops in Palestine, they would have occupied not only the partition-approved area, but the entire country.
The Daily Mail’s Palestine correspondent says that there has recently been a “sizable intake” of more British officers into the Arab Legion from regiments with drawn from duty, while British gunnery officers are giving intensive training to the Legionnaires. In spite of this, the correspondent continues, the Jews “still have a lot of cards up their sleeves.”
The Evening News’ reporter, John Cornell, who is on a flying trip to Palestine, describes the so-called Arab Liberation Army as a “trigger-happy, leaderless rabble of peasant boys from the hills and Iraqi mercenaries.” Haganah, he writes, “is composed of tough, disciplined, battle-tested troops.” Expressing amazement at the extent of Arab looting in Jerusalem, Connell, who says the looting was carried out under the eyes of the British police, concludes:
“In Jewish Jerusalem, I saw confidence, dignity, resolution and serenity, to which the word, ‘heroic, does not seem inappropriate. On the Arab side, I saw defeat, withdrawal and a pitiful lack of leadership.”
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