TRANSJORDAN THE JUDENREIN
LEGALITIES — 'MADE
IN ENGLAND'
We now return to
another of those strange enigmas of British administration — the territory of
the Jewish National Home east of Jordan. The shrewd manipulation by which it
was filched from the Zionist pocketbook has already been referred to. Just
what its status is
today (1938) remains a dark mystery. The territory is called an independent
Emirate, yet remains part and parcel of the Mandate for Palestine. The same
High Commissioner rules both. The Emir Abdullah, its nominal ruler, is granted
an ample personal subsidy straight out of the Palestine treasury. The deficits
of his stagnating State are taken care of from the same generous source.
When in 1922
London secured the League's consent to set up a separate Administration east of
Jordan, it was granted only with the stipulation that "the general regime
of the Mandate for Palestine" would be maintained there. To this London
agreed, assuring the League "that no measure inconsistent with the provisions
of the Mandate for Palestine would be passed in that territory." All of
this, in words, was carried out in the 'treaty' with the Emir, and incorporated
in the 'Constitution' of Trans-Jordan as well.
In 1924,
officialdom still acknowledged that Trans-Jordan was an integral part of the
Jewish National Home. On May
27 of that year, during a Palestine debate, Lord Arnold, then Under-Secretary
for the Colonies, declared: "During the war we recognized Arab
independence within certain border limits, and supported it. . . There were
discussions as to what territories these borders should take in. But there was
no dispute as to Trans-Jordan. There is no doubt about the fact that
Trans-Jordan is within the boundaries to which the Declaration [Balfour] during
the War refers. This is the Government's point of view relative to the
political status of Trans-Jordan and
340 TRANSJORDAN
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the character of
our relations to the land"
Under the Turks there
were no restrictions against the settlement of Jews in Trans-Jordan. A number
of colonization schemes were attempted. The largest was undertaken by Baron Edmund
de Rothschild in 1894, who bought seventy thousand dunams in Golan for a
large-scale resettlement project. This, however, was sidetracked in favor of
the coastal development where Zionist effort was then concentrated.
Whitehall early
banned Jewish penetration into this territory. Its expressed reason was a deep
solicitation for the returning settlers, who allegedly would not be safe in
this lawless, turbulent sector. The migratory tribes of Trans-Jordan could enter
Western Palestine freely, however, since the question of their safety did not
arise.
Soon these
strictures became iron-clad. The eastern two-thirds of the National Home was
not only hermetically sealed to Jewish settlement but Jews could not possess
property there or practice a profession. Transjordan became the first and remains
the only completely Judenrein area on the earth's surface. Apparently they are
the only immigrants prohibited. Examination of the official British Report to
the League for 1936 shows a large group of foreigners ranging from Syrians and
Egyptians to Germans, Italians and Turks who have taken residence there. Says
the Report succinctly: "The classified and unclassified officials of the
Transjordan Government other than British, including the officers of the Arab
Legion but excluding other ranks, numbered 683" of whom only 422 are Arabs
born in Transjordan. 1
When the Mandates
Commission sharply commented on this condition, London assured it that
"there was no legal prohibition to prevent Jews from entering"
Transjordan. In other words, on paper everything was in order. When the Commission
bluntly demanded that these restrictions be abrogated, the British spokesman
Dr. Drummond Shiels replied with unctuous regret "that that was
impracticable because the existing Legislative Assembly in Trans-Jordan would
frustrate such intentions." 2 Scarcely more than six months later we find
the same
342 THE RAPE OF
PALESTINE
Drummond Shiels
declaring to an impatient Commons that "when Transjordan is freed from the
irritation of raids and counter-raids by warring tribesmen, an opportunity will
be given for its settlement and development." 3 Here we have two diametrically
opposite lines of reasoning. One, that the normal processes of orderly government
forbade an immigration disturbing to the country's economy. The other, that
since no orderly government existed, it was unthinkable to allow civilized
immigrants to
enter.
Faced with a fait
accompli, the League in some meretricious hair-splitting came to a curious
decision: Jews who were natives of Palestine
of the Mandate.
These could be excluded. However, any Jews in Palestine who were not
Palestinians, must, according to the terms of the Mandate, be allowed the right
of free access to Transjordan. 4
In actual practice
the British went whole hog down the line, barring English Jews as rigidly as
their brethren from Poland. Gentile Englishmen, however, retained indisputable
rights of settlement. Even if one chooses to ignore the maneuvers by
which this section
of the National Home was handed outright to some ambitious nomads from the Hejaz , how may this circumstance be explained?
It was not so long ago that the world applauded when the United States broke
off its commercial treaty
with Czarist
Russia because of a discrimination much the same as this and less inexcusable.
Recounting an identical incident when Turkey attempted the exclusion of Jews in
1888, official British Peace Handbook No. 6o thunders that "the Powers refused
to accept discriminatory legislation against their nationals, Hebrew or
others," and the Turks had to drop the offending statutes like a hot
potato.
Dexterous as their
performance was, the Bureaucrats ran up against the hard fact that legerdemain
has its absolute limits. They could swindle the eyes by appearing to separate
the body of the National Home into living fragments, but no amount of
343 TRANSJORDAN
THE JUDENREIN
black magic could
endow the operation with reality. Trans-Jordan was inalienably a part of
Palestine, and must immediately expire, if cut off from it in fact. M. Rappard
of the Permanent Mandates Commission contemptuously called it "a parasite
State" with a budget fed by grants from the Mandatory Government. Its
total income is forty-five percent less than that of Tel Aviv alone.
Transjordan has
practically no industries of any kind, and only a few of the most primitive
home-crafts. According to the British Report to the League for 1936, the total
assessment for land tax was only £88,000 of which £53,507 had to be subsequently
remitted because the bankrupt villagers could not pay it. 5 The Emir Abdullah's
attenuated income includes "Trans-Jordan's share in the imports duties of
Palestine." 6 Palestine is also Tran-Jordan’s principal market, selling
goods there valued at £208,993 as against £36,088 which she buys in return.
Examining the High
Commissioner's Report for 1935 we discover, weighted beneath a load of words,
that Trans-Jordan's income was £276,258, while its expenditure was £369,395.
Its budget for 1937-38, reduced to skin-and-bones, still showed a thirty
percent deficit. In other words, Transjordan has been perpetually bankrupt —
kept alive only by the munificence of its rich uncle Israel. If it were
divorced from Israel's household it would simply die of malnutrition. Out of
the lush Palestine treasury, the Emir has had an endless flow of 'loans,'
subsidies and outright grants. He has been provided with free Army and Air
Force assistance in quelling the recurrent rebellions of his own tribesmen and
in preserving his boundaries against Wahabis aggression. As early as 1927 it
was pointed out that the National Home would show a deficit of £90,000 for the
yearly period "due to the fact that the Palestine Government is covering
the deficits in Transjordan — otherwise the budget would show a surplus of
£80,000." 7
Transjordan
comprises an area of about 35,000 square miles — more than three times as large
as the country west of Jordan. It is an area of great resources but no effort
has been made to develop them. A census has never been taken, but the
population is
344 THE RAPE OF
PALESTINE
reliably estimated
to be around 275,000. The majority are nomad tribesmen to whom even boundaries
are incomprehensible. Some of these, like the Aneezeh and Sherarat, have their
main camping grounds in Arabia proper. The only towns of any consequence are
Amman, the capital, with 38,000 people, and Es Salt with 18,000.
The limitations of
this country lie in the nature of the human material composing its population.
Turbulent, destructive, inefficient, seemingly incapable of any but the most
elementary creative activities, their stamp is imprinted wherever one turns
in this favored
land. Bizarrely enough, one factor that has contributed to the permanent
poverty of the Bedu is the ruthless suppression of predatory excursions, drying
up their chief source of revenue.
There are only
fifteen doctors in all Trans-Jordan. The rate of infant mortality is the highest
on earth. Its poverty is terrible and crushing. The correspondent of Al Jamia
Al Islamia 8 describes hordes of people "who snatch hungrily at any refuse
which by a stretch of the imagination may be edible. . . At night these
creatures, men, women and children, with no roof to shelter them, huddle for
warmth and sleep in the streets." Reliable English sources describe the
country, after fifteen years of Arab rule, as infinitely worse off than it was
under the Turks. Says the Crown Colonist of June 1934: "The farmers are
plunged in the starkest conditions of poverty, and the nomads are frequently on
the verge of starvation." Cattle die off by thousands, and epidemics,
droughts, grasshopper and mice plagues, which the fellaheen are incapable of
coping with, reduce them to a state of abject deprivation. The result is seen
in the total lack of any natural increase in population since the British occupation;
while directly across the Jordan, their brother Arabs are showing the most
remarkable gain of births over deaths on medical records.
No part of this
discourages Whitehall
345 TRANSJORDAN
THE JUDENREIN
shifting gears a
few short months later, it acknowledges that "the Emirate of Abdullah is
poor, miserably poor, but it does not want the wealth of the Zionists." 10
This in itself was flatly-contradicted by the British statesman, Herbert
Morrison, who on returning from a visit to Palestine and Trans-Jordan in 1936,
told the House that Jews were being kept out of Transjordan "by the wish
of the British Government. ,, 11
The fact is that
Trans-Jordan is a colony which Great Britain got on the excuse that it was to
be part of the Jewish Homeland. The Commander of the Arab Legion is a blue-eyed
Englishman named Peake Pasha. The most prominent agent of the
all-important
British Intelligence Service, Major J. B. Glubb, is stationed there permanently
in charge of the desert patrol which keeps the turbulent tribesmen under
control. Here in itself is proof of the importance London
area. British
officials rule as in any other colony, and the word of the British High
Commissioner is final. Says the Encyclopedia Britannica: "A considerable
increase in the number of British officials and the transfer of the Palestine
Trans-Jordan
resulted in fact in the carrying on of the Administration on Crown Colony
lines; and the local Government existing as a façade, exercised little or no
independent authority." 12
The 'treaty'
between Great Britain
the construction
and operation of railways, and the operation of loans." The Emir may not
"raise or maintain in Trans-Jordan or allow to be raised or maintained,
any military forces without the consent of His Britannic Majesty." The
'independent
Emirate' agrees
"to the employment of British officials." England
throne and changes
in the 'Constitution' are to be referred to the advice of Great Britain March 20, 1928 , this 'treaty* completed the Strategical
moves by which Transjordan was to be purloined from the Jewish
National Home and stuffed
346 THE RAPE OF PALESTINE
in the pocket of Great Britain Downing Street which comes forth.
Calling a spade a
spade, the London Times, in its issue of March 29, 1928 , declares: "Transjordan therefore has the status equivalent to a
protectorate, the only difference being the status of Great Britain
present
relationship is permanent"
The latest plan is
to separate the Aqaba region from Trans-Jordan and declare it a separate
English colony. This move is forestalled only by the vigorous claim of Ibn Saud
to that port as part of the legitimate spoils grabbed from old King Hussein.
Saud now demands
it as the price of his consent to the Palestine
ABDULLAH PUTS HIS
HAND OUT
The Emir of
Transjordan owes his success entirely to English patronage. His one military
campaign was staged against Ibn Saud, when that gentleman with tacit British
approval chased Abdullah's father, Hussein, off the throne of Hejaz . Abdullah
himself was
disastrously routed and had to flee for his life into the desert.
The Emir is an
excellent chess player and indifferent poet. He has only one legal wife, but
enough concubines of every color and nationality to suit the most capricious
taste. In April of 1931 he attempted to make the use of automobiles illegal in
347 TRANSJORDAN THE JUDENREIN
With the external
affairs of his country he has little to do, even nominally. Its internal
affairs are supervised with autocratic powers by the smart British Resident,
Colonel Cox.
His administration
proved so erratic and extravagant that the English finally deprived him of the
administration of even his own estates and put him on the civil list like a
pensioner. The balance is reserved for the payment of his debts. 13 He is known
to privately favor a great Semitic State
He is a realist of
the first water, who would not hesitate at any time to cut His Britannic
Majesty's throat if anything could be gained by it. Lord Raglan, former British
political officer in Transjordan , informed the Lords on February 21, 1922 that he himself "had heard Abdullah
with his £ 5000 in his pocket 14 hold up Sinn Fein as an example to the Arabs
of Palestine. The inhabitants are disgusted with Abdullah and they are still
more disgusted with the British Government which has forced him
upon them."
During the Winter
of 1935-36 the Emir wrote the French Foreign Minister offering France Transjordan to Syria Britain
The Emir's country
is so pathetically undeveloped that "even a horse tied to a tree is a
wayside event." 16 Kenneth Williams, accompanying the Peel Commission
during their 1936 visit, describes the greater part as inhabited "only by
wandering tribes.
Only one-fifth of
the total area of the Emirate, in fact, is cultivated." 17
Impelled by their
extreme poverty, the Tribes have long gazed with envious eyes at their lucky
brethren across the river, now prosperous enough to own many wives and
348 THE RAPE OF PALESTINE
all the good food
they could eat. Even Abdullah himself, usually so tractable, could not restrain
his cupidity. He began to regard himself in the light of a land-owner whose
vast stretches could be given a fabulous market value, though at the time they
were not worth the taxes paid on them. His cronies among the land-owning
effendis also began to grow restless despite hand-outs and patronage. They
smelled bigger game ; and, mouths watering at this tempting stream of yellow
metal pouring before their eyes across Jordan Whitehall
Back in 1924 Jacob
De Haas had already been offered 100,000 dunams at "about a dollar an
acre, on condition that the sale was not disclosed to the British officials in Jerusalem
But the Arabs were
not to be put off. On January 17, 1933 , Mithkal Pasha, most powerful Sheikh in
Trans-Jordan, offered to lease one hundred thousand dunams. Heads of other
tribes approached the Jewish Agency with similar propositions. On
January 20 a great
meeting of Sheikhs at Amman
Events tumbled
over themselves in swift succession. On February 6, a group of the most
influential tribal leaders drew up a petition demanding the right to lease or
sell
their land. Pointing
out the terrible poverty and under population of the country, they declared
that salvation could come only through the Jews. Under the direction of the British
Government propaganda officer, the Palestine Arab press accused Abdullah of
having engineered the petition himself. Undeterred, Abdullah banned offending
Arab papers from his territory. Trans-Jordanian leaders, determined to have
their way, staged impressive demonstrations demanding land sales. The opening
of the Legislative Assembly on February 9, was all set for fireworks. The group
in favor of legalizing land sales to Jews, having a clear majority, had taken
the bit in their teeth and meant to be stopped by no one. The Assembly had
already met when the Secretariat announced that it had been dissolved and that
future sessions were indefinitely postponed. According to the story carried
openly by all Arab papers, both the British High Commissioner and the British
Commander of the Transjordan Military had held a hurried conference with the
Emir, laying down the law to that refractory gentleman in no uncertain manner.
Meanwhile the British
Palestine Government was with meticulous correctness advising the Jewish press
that "this matter is not within our jurisdiction as Trans-Jordan is under
a different government." At almost the identical moment, it informed the
Emir that his subsidy would be reduced by twenty-five percent during the coming
year. But for once the rubber-stamp Legislature confounded its masters by
running completely amuck.
On April 1, at its
next session, the British High Commissioner's bill prohibiting sale or lease of
land to non-Trans-Jordanians (Jews) was unexpectedly beaten by thirteen votes
to three. The session closed in surly mood with no affirmative measure allowed
to come before it.
Still trying to
force the issue, on May 25, representatives delegated from twenty-three Trans-Jordanian
towns waited in a body on the Jewish Agency urging them not to give up the
fight. It was apparent that operating deviously with his left hand and hungrier
than ever, Abdullah was sitting tight. That forced the British to lay aside
their switch in favor of the cudgel. They reminded the Emir of what had
happened to
350 THE RAPE OF PALESTINE
his illustrious father,
King Hussein, when he thought he was a bigger man than
the King of England March 27, 1935 the heads of the most important tribes convened
in an uproarious session, demanding the cancellation of anti-Jewish laws
"because Jewish money which is destined to develop Transjordan is being diverted. . " With unerring
awareness they ignored the fiction of a Trans-Jordanian Government and
addressed their resolution direct to the British, who disregarded it.
However, it should
not be believed that English solicitude for their tribal wards is limited to
some skittish desire to fence them off picturesquely on their reservations.
British officials themselves have been buying up large tracts of the most
fertile acreage and placing them under cultivation. 20 Palestine Arabs, too,
are taking over extensive tracts on speculation, considering an eventual Jewish
settlement inevitable. 21
There have been
other settlement schemes which had British approval. In the Spring of 1927 the
English Government put up a demand that land be made available for the
immediate settlement of Armenians. Sensing no monetary advantage, and disliking
Christians with a keener gusto than they did Jews, Arab Sheikhs submitted a
counter-memorandum angrily rejecting the proposition. It was consequently
dropped. Early in 1929 the English backed another plan to colonize refugees
from Tripoli Benghazi London Amman Morocco
351 TRANSJORDAN THE JUDENREIN
wall which holds
them west of Jordan Holy Land , and that the whole carefully raised scheme against them must then
ultimately fail.
In its issue of February
4, 1937 , Great Britain
Most Trans-Jordanians
seem to believe, however, that their country would be better 'pacified' by the
removal of the British.
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