British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 48. Historical Summary: December, 1938 to 1939, The Royal Commission, the Partition Commission, and the White Paper of May, 1939.

CHAPTER II.

that, in considering and settling their policy, His Majesty's Government would keep constantly in mind the international character of the Mandate and their obligations in that respect.

The Arabs were gratified that partition had been abandoned and that the neighbouring Arab countries had been invited to participate in discussions; but they were displeased that immigration and land sales had not been stopped, and that the Mufti was to be excluded from the proposed conference. Official Zionist opinion on the question of partition had remained sharply divided since the publication of the Royal Commission's report: the abandonment of partition by His Majesty's Government now served to reunite Zionist parties on the question of policy.

December,.1938.

It was announced that, in order to facilitate the nomination of the Arab delegates from Palestine at the London Conference, the five Arab leaders who had been deported from Palestine in October, 1937, would be released from the Seychelles. They were not permitted to enter Palestine.

1939.

During the first eight months of 1939 the Arab rebellion continued, but with gradually diminishing vigor; it slowly lost the characteristics of a national movement and degenerated into a series of crimes of reprisal; the breaking up of the large gangs which bad begun at the end of 1938 proceeded under the pressure of continuous military operations against them, dissension grew in the ranks of their leaders and, in March, 1939, Abdul Rahim el Raj Mohammed, who carried the greatest reputation among them and commanded the general respect of the Arabs, was killed in action; the other principal leaders left Palestine shortly afterwards; there were left smaller groups of outlaws, not under any controlled leadership and inspired mainly by personal gain, family bloodfeuds and individual jealousies, which proceeded to rob and destroy life and property in the bill villages, while assassins remained active in the urban areas. The bulk of the Arab population grew tired of the rebellion, and an increasing number, desiring to be relieved of the depredations of the gangs, gradually took courage to resist them and came over to the side of law and order. By July the state of Arab disorders had sufficiently improved to warrant the release of a large number of detainees, the resumption of Arab bus services and the removal of restrictions on international trunk telephone calls; Arabs began again to pay their taxes to Government and even to take out the Government identity cards which had previously been banned by the leaders of the rebellion.

Page 48