The vulnerability of an important point in Great Britain’s imperial defenses in the Near East is being demonstrated with the semi-crippling of Palestine’s Government-owned and operated railway by Arab terrorists. For the second time in a half year the railways have suspended night traffic following the coup of a terrorist band operating on the Lydda-Haifa line, which caused two serious wrecks within twenty-four hours.
The Palestine Railways originated as a military line constructed to serve General Allebny’s army during the World War, and in case of another war in this part of the world it would be an important communication link for British troops defending the Suez Canal, the Mesopotamian oil fields and other vital strategic points in the Eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula regions.
The future of the railways will undoubtedly have a good deal of weight in determining the British Government’s ultimate decision on the future of Palestine. Although this point has been largely overlooked in public discussion, it is a safe guess that it will be considered by the commission which will soon come to Palestine to study the question of boundaries for the proposed partition of the country.
A British army officer here recently remarked: “The Jews and Arabs can have the country and do what they please with it so long as we keep hold of Haifa, the pipeline, the air fields and the railway.” Yet today a few squads of guerrilla fighters and armed peasants are contesting the control of this railway with the British army, and have succeeded in seriously reducing its efficiency.
Despite extraordinary precautions and a careful military guard, hardly a day passes without powerful mines being laid or walls uprooted in one or more places. Military watch towers have been erected along the right of way, and soldiers aboard trolleys and handcars patrol the lines day and night, and travel ahead of trains as convoys. One soldier has been killed and several wounded while on this patrol duty recently, due to the dynamiting or derailment of the patrol cars.
The halting of night traffic, which consisted exclusively of freight trains, would have been disastrous to Palestine if it had occurred a few weeks earlier, since it would have thrown citrus shipments into chaos. As it is, the citrus season is drawing to early close, so that the effects of the railway shutdown are not extremely severe. Freight cars are being moved by day, attached to passenger trains. It is likely that the terrorist onslaught against the railways was purposely delayed until the end of the citrus season, since Arabs are as much interested in that crop as the Jews.
For the country’s business, the hampering of railway traffic is not at present a matter of first importance, since the citrus crop is out of the way. Palestine’s automobile transport facilities are much better developed, faster and more efficient than the railways. It takes three hours to travel to Jerusalem to Tel Aviv by Train in antiquated, not too comfortable wooden coaches, and there are only three trains a day in each direction. By bus the trip takes an hour and three quarters, and by the small cars which compete with buses and trais, an hour and a quarter. Buses and cars leave every few minutes. Trucking by road is likewise faster and more convenient than shipment by rail.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the railway is a tremendous money loser. The Government continues to operate the lines primarily because they must be kept in condition for military use in case of war.
BECAUSE OF THE PASSOVER HOLIDAYS, THE JTA NEWS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
