Shalom and Sheiks: 46 – The Battle Is On
...In my office the Arabs and Jews worked side by side without any apparent animosity. At night, they would go and shoot it out in the streets. The battle was on...
John Powell continues his account of the turbulence which accompanied the setting up of the State of Israel.
To read earlier chapters of John’s vivid story please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/shalom_and_sheiks/
One morning I picked up an Arab employee, Abu Sham, to give him a lift. Approaching Six Acres there was a stretch of road, a no-man's-land between the Jewish and Arab quarters, and we were travelling on this when there was the loud 'CRACK!' of a bullet, then more, ‘CRACK! CRACK!' A sniper was firing at us and, from our position, it could only have been from the Jewish quarter.
I pushed my foot down hard, picked up speed and swerved from side to side of the road. Old Abu Sham shut the door-window for protection; useless, but it is funny how, psychologically, such an action can give a small sense of safety. I knew how he felt. Probably of more use were his prayers, "Bi-smi llah, l-rahmani, l-rahimi", ('In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate' — the opening words for each Sura or, section, of the Koran, the Holy Book of Islam). Abu Sham's prayers worked and we arrived safely.
Not so another IPC vehicle that was hit and stopped on the road, the driver wounded. I asked the Arab foreman when he was going to go and help the driver. He refused. I could not blame him. With a wife and family, in such a situation, I would have refused also. Now, everybody looked at me. (Oh Lord, not another volunteer job, Sergeant Daly?) I had painted myself into a comer and went to fetch my car. Happily, as I did so, two Arabs set out to rescue the wounded man.
The five of us decided that it was too dangerous to travel through the Arab area to Six Acres, and permission was obtained for us to bypass it by driving through the Port. Our senior member also decreed that we should all travel in the one car. On our first trip on this new route we were stopped at the Port gates by the Royal Marine Commandos. Ordering us to get out of the car, they searched us first and then the car. It was humiliating to be frisked by one's own countrymen and we protested strongly.
The Commando Sergeant replied, "Sorry, but these are our orders; to search everyone and everything."
Quite right; and it made me realise how the many Jews and Arabs must have felt, when I carried out those same duties on the road blocks that we would set up unexpectedly and without notice.
It seemed to me that it was poor strategy for all of us to be in one car, for if hit or blown up, all five of us would be killed. To be in our own cars gave us a better chance and we adopted my idea. It was risky to drive at all with the hostilities increasing. The dash across no-man's-land from the Port to Six Acres always had my stomach churning over. With Abu Sham, was the only time that I was shot at, but it was enough to grip me in fear every time I did the journey.
One day, driving through the Port, I slammed on my brakes. To my surprise, there they were embarking on a troopship — the Welsh Guards going home to Blighty. I spoke to some of the senior NCOs, who still remembered me; then they also embarked. I watched them leave. Three years earlier I had been one of them on arrival. It seemed a long time ago.
Before long the British Army had gone, except for the Commandos in the Port, and Mount Carmel was under Jewish control. Then the Commandos left too. There were continuous outbursts of small arms fire from the Arab area of Wadi Nis Nas, interspersed with the 'crump' of explosions from time to time.
In my office the Arabs and Jews worked side by side without any apparent animosity. At night, they would go and shoot it out in the streets. The battle was on.
