British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 593

CHAPTER XV.

during the subsequent years. Further, during the Druze rebellion in Syria of 1925-1926, a certain quantity of arms was smuggled across the frontier from Palestine and used by the rebels, and it is believed that when the 1929 riots took place in this country the arms in the possession of the Arabs were not so numerous as formerly. After these riots, however, both Arabs and Jews set about arming themselves against future disorders and there is little doubt that many of the arms lent or sold to the Syrian rebels were brought back into Palestine. Consequently, a great many firearms and substantial stocks of ammunition were available in the countryside when the disorders of 1936-1939 broke out.

25. Until the inauguration of the Port and Marine section of the Police Force in July, 1935 and the establishment of four coastguard stations in 1()40 there was no regular preventive service along the seaboard of Palestine. It is believed that these measures, which also served to check illegal immigration, had some effect in combatting arms smuggling by sea. In recent years three ocean-going launches patrolled the coast from Ras en Naqura to Gaza almost continuously for periods of one to three days. These launches, however, were seriously damaged by Jewish saboteurs on the night of the 31st October-1st November, 1945. Several other small launches performed short patrols along the coast and on the sea of Galilee. Coastguard stations situated at Givat Olga, Kfar Vitkin, Sidna Ali and Al Jura provide mounted coast patrols which are supplemented by others from police stations situated in the maritime plain. Givat Olga and Sidna Ali coastguard stations were heavily attacked by Jews on the night of 24th November, 1945, and were extensively damaged by explosives. On 19th January, 1946, the Givat Olga station was again attacked and damaged.

26. Apart from political motives there has always been a demand in Palestine for firearms, particularly among the Beduin and Arab fellaheen, who not only find the trade lucrative but also derive prestige from possessing arms. Explosives also find a ready market among the Arabs engaged in terracing rocky hillsides and fishermen for whom the illegal bombing of fish is a profitable occupation. No evidence of any Arab organization for the acquisition or smuggling of arms on an extensive scale has ever been discovered. It is reasonable to assume that during the Arab rebellion of 1936-1939 all available arms were brought into use and quantities of arms of Turkish origin are said to have filtered into The country from Syria. Military and police operations in rural areas during 1036-1939 led to the seizure of large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives and, when rewards for the surrender of arms were temporarily introduced in 1939-40, many

593