Major General P. C. Palin, Brigadier General E. H. Wildblood and Lieutenant Colonel C. Vaughan Edwards.

“ So far as the claim is historic, they can only see in the Jews a people who, after an independent history of less than three hundred years, were twice expelled from their territory, by Great Empires as a standing menace to Imperial peace and order. From the religious point of view they regard them as a race guilty of the greatest religious crime in history and still unrepentant. Such views may be uncritical and unjust but they obtain and make it difficult for the native population to contemplate with equanimity even the most moderate aims of Zionism. ”

“ For the sake of convenience it is usual to speak of the Moslem population as "Arabs", though the actual Arab element in the blood of the people is probably confined to what is really a landed aristocracy, the vast majority of the population, both Moslem and Christian being of mixed blood and largely consisting of indigenous races which have occupied the country from time immemorial, races which were not in reality extirpated even by the Jews at the remote period of their original conquest. ”

“ The Court is of opinion that while no doubt occasional mistakes have been made, such as might [p53] be expected in an organisation of ordinary human beings acting under conditions of extreme difficulty, the Administration has loyally carried out the policy laid down for it, endeavouring to hold the balance with the greatest exactitude between the warring sections of the population, with results on the whole to the welfare of people and country which ought to be the subject of sincere gratification to the British Government. ”

“ It is said that the effect of the Balfour Declaration was to leave the Moslems and Christians dumbfounded. This, however, was not the immediate effect, for it evidently took four or five months for the true meaning of the Declaration to filter through to the minds of the people: by true meaning, we must understand the only meaning intelligible to the population, in view of the loose references to the Declaration by the Allies' orators and Press and the outspoken statements of the Zionists extremists. It is impossible to minimise the bitterness of the awakening. ”

“ Under the first group the Zionists have collected a number of chance exclamations and expletives which have fallen from the lips of exasperated officials at odd times and have been zealously noted down by attentive Jewish witnesses for future use. It will occur to most people that any community under like conditions might collect a similar batch of trivialities capable of suggesting ill feeling. It does not seem to have occurred to the Zionists that it is possible for an English official to have a personal dislike for a type and yet do his duty conscientiously in spite of it. ”

“ It is necessary to make a few passing remarks upon this question of immigration which looms so menacingly before the eyes of the native population. It is said on the one hand that the immigration of the Jews will be wholly for the benefit of the country and on the other that there is sufficient undeveloped lands to provide for the coming colonists without any disturbance of the native population. The first proposition is undoubtedly true provided that the immigration is strictly regulated and controlled by the mandatory power. ”

“ On the other hand we have the Zionists, whose impatience to achieve their ultimate goal and indiscretion are largely responsible for this unhappy state of feeling, now bitterly hostile to the British Administration and suffering under a sense of injuries inflicted, which, in their view, ought to have been anticipated and avoided. They are ready to use their powerful foreign and home influence to force the hand of this or any future Administration. If not carefully checked they may easily precipitate a catastrophe, the end of which it is difficult to forecast. ”

“ I do not think any normal body of British officers could hold the scales equally between Jew and Moslem. I do not think any civil administration could do so unless it had a certain sympathy with the Jewish cause." A sweeping statement of this character is extremely difficult to meet: it might with at least equal justice be said that no nation has shown itself more widely tolerant of the Jew than the English, and it ignores the proved capacity of Imperial officials to maintain a high standard of equal justice throughout the Empire irrespective of their personal likes and dislikes. ”

“ A case in point is the firing from the house by the two elderly Jews on Tuesday the 6th, which resulted in their both being shot by the Indian troops - a tragedy which it seems probable was due to an unhappy misunderstanding, the Indians being mistaken for Arabs. There were also some incidents in which groups of Jews attacked the policy and Arab looters. But it is perfectly clear that with these few exceptions the Jews were the sufferers, and were, moreover, the victims of a peculiarly brutal and cowardly attack, the majority of the casualties being old men, women and children. ”

“ The fellah is extremely backward in his methods and apathetic and slow in his intelligence: a reasonable inoculation with the vigorous mental force of the Jew would be invaluable in the development of the country and people. This is even recognised by the most intelligent of the Arabs and we have the Grand Mufti, the representative of Islam in Palestine and a member of the oldest nobility of the country saying "I too believe the Jews could greatly help our country, but what terrifies us are the extremists and the uncontrolled immigration. ”

“ The leading Zionists early became aware of the immense mischief that was being done by the extravagant pretensions of their co-religionists and set themselves to attempt a reconciliation with the native population. One of the objects of the Zionist Commission sent out by the British Government to Palestine in 1918 was "to help in establishing friendly relations with the Arabs and other non-Jewish communities." ”

“ On the other hand the various allegations made against the force by the Jews, such as that of being aware of the plan and giving a signal for the outbreak and of removing the Jewish police from the interior of the city of design, are certainly not established, nor do they seem at all probable. An unsatisfactory feature, however, is the fact that several of the Arabs arrested during the riots for offences and Arab policemen charged with misconduct seem to have escaped without prosecution. The officers of the force did their best, but as had been anticipated, the instrument broke in their hand. ”

“ Various persons in high positions have used language of the loosest kind calculated to convey a very different impression to the more moderate interpretation which can be put upon the words. President Wilson brushed away all doubts as to what was intended from his point of view when, in March 1919, he said to the Jewish leaders in America, "I am moreover persuaded that the allied nations, with the fullest concurrence of our own Government and people are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundations of a Jewish Commonwealth." ”

“ The approach of Easter week with its inevitable religious disorders and the coincidence of the Christian and Jewish festivals with the Moslem Nebi Musa Pilgrimage was the cause of serious anxiety both to the Jewish Community and the Administration. There is certainly evidence that an indefinite presentiment existed among the people that an attack might be made on the Jews at some time during that festival. Threats were uttered and warnings given to individual Jews both in Jerusalem and in the country. ”

“ The Christian could be occasionally troublesome with his appeals to foreign powers. The Orthodox Jew of Palestine was a humble, inoffensive creature, largely dependent on charity for his livelihood in the city of Jerusalem, elsewhere hardly distinguishable from the rest of the peasant population. No serious at attack on the Jewish population is recorded since the time of Ibrahim Pasha in 1840. ”

“ Closely interwoven with the United Syria movement is the Pan-Islamic agitation, which seeks to unite Islam from India to the Mediterranean. This again connects up with the Pan-Turanian ideals which favour the aspirations of their Turkish co-religionists. All these movements are now definitely anti-British and Anti-Allies, and their combined efforts are directed to fan the flame lit by the discontent of the Palestinian population. ”

“ At the bifurcation of the Jerusalem - Jericho, Jerusalem Abu Dis roads, a tent is erected, where the Administration officials, notables and guests await the procession. After the ceremony a portion of the pilgrims proceed to the tomb of Nebi Musa, which is midway between Tilaat el Demin and the Dead Sea; the rest camp or return to their villages if near by, or to Jerusalem. No ceremony is performed on Saturday, but on Saturday or Sunday the main body of the Hebron pilgrims comes along; they are late owing to the distance they have to come. ”

“ The whole native population, Arab and Christian, was in a condition of active hostility at once to the Zionists and the British Administration, their sentiments inflamed by a sense of their own wrongs, their fears for the future, and the active propaganda of various anti-British and anti-Zionist elements working freely in their midst. ”

“ Colonel Bentwich is an English Jew and an ardent and convinced Zionist, and he impressed the Court as being a most fair minded and reliable witness. This is what he says "I don't think there has been a general bias. There have been one or two cases of officers in the Administration who had - Colonel Gabriel had, and one or two others were anti-Jewish. These officers have been dealt with. I think the Jews are a little out to seek offence. They are too sensitive and ready to take offence and there is action and re-action accordingly. ”

“ In the first place the natives have a right to demand that the claims of the natural increase of their population should be first considered. How serious these are can be seen by an examination of the vital Statistics compiled by Colonel Heron, A.D.M.S. The increase in population under the improved conditions brought about by the occupation is very remarkable. The number of deaths recorded in the five large towns of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Hebron and Gaza, with an estimated population of 115,360 souls gives for the year 1918 a ratio per mile of 31.23: for 1919 the ratio is 18.17. ”

“ Colonel Sawer gives it as his opinion that the possibility of there being a surplus of land capable of supporting immigrants after allowing for the natural expansion of the population depends on the introduction of intensive cultivation and improved schemes of irrigation and on the possibility of colonising the Jordan valley, which latter, however, he does not think could be colonised by Europeans. ”

“ His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. ”

“ Previous to the war, the progress of Zionism was hardly sufficient to excite his anxiety and though, the actual colonisation did cause hin some disquiet, it was not sufficient either in quantity or success to rouse him seriously. Nevertheless he was able to note that where the Jew became a landed proprietor, the Arab and Christian fellah peasant proprietor was reduced to the position of a wage labourer. The prospect of extensive Jewish immigration fills him with a panic fear, which may be exaggerated, but is none the less genuine. ”

“ It must be borne in mind that the military patrol on at least one occasion fired on the Arab mob and although the officer in charge states that he did not see any casualties, it is scarcely probable that none actually occurred in view of the fact that 15 rounds were fired at a range of about 25 yards. [p77] It is interesting to add that no attack was made at any time against the officers and men of the British regiment, nor were British officers molested if we except one or two attempts at rescue of prisoners: the attack was entirely directed against the Jews. ”

“ Eder saw General Bols and suggested the inadvisability of permitting a demonstration in view of the tension in the country. General Bols took the view that organised processions of this kind could be controlled and that they acted as a safety valve. The demonstration which was attended by between two and three thousand persons, passed off quietly and the police kept the people well in hand, in spite of a provocative incident by the Jews in starting the Hatikva, the Jewish National Anthem as the procession was passing the Jewish Blind School. ”

“ To the native, they seem to have adopted an attitude at first contemptuous and peremptory, and later, when they became aware of the growing feeling aroused by their attitude, a resentment not unmingled with fear. ”

“ There is certainly evidence to show that the tendency of the native small proprietor is to sink into the condition of a wage labourer where he comes into collision with Jewish colonial enterprise and combination. ”

“ Rightly or wrongly they fear the Jew as a ruler, regarding his race as one of the most intolerant known to history. It is unfortunate that their opinion of Jewish intolerance should have been inflamed by the very remarkable articles recently published in the local Hebrew organ, the Doat Ha-Youm (Daily Mail) of Jerusalem against certain of their co-religionists who send their children to mission schools. ”