Leon Uris (27 page)

The common enemy is ourselves.
Ibrahim nodded and smiled to Kaukji.

‘What the generalissimo said goes for the Heusseinis as well,’ Abdul Kadar added. ‘My uncle, the Grand Mufti, bears no grudges. There can no longer be the luxury of petty feuds among us. The greater cause is too urgent.’

Again Ibrahim nodded.

Fawzi Kabir cleared his throat, balanced his fat little body on the edge of his high-backed leather chair, pursed his lips, and pushed his fingertips together. ‘Times have changed drastically since the Mufti’s revolt. Then, even I had a different viewpoint. When these two brothers came to me I was only too happy to join the new order of things. Today, there is but one issue and one enemy, Unity in the Arab world is paramount.’

‘When have we ever had unity?’ Ibrahim asked.

The three stared at him, annoyed. Kabir felt he would be difficult from the outset. ‘We found unity the day, the minute the partition plan was voted. The world shall see how the Arab brothers can stand shoulder to shoulder.’

‘When have we had Arab soil desecrated by the threat of a Zionist state?’ Abdul Kadar added.

‘I myself have had many differences with the Mufti,’ Kaukji continued the litany of brotherhood, ‘but 1939 was 1939, and 1947 is 1947.’

But it is the same old cast of players. The leopard does not change his spots or the camel discard his hump at the water hole. What has changed? All three men are seething with ambition. Do they really believe they are now allies?

‘The strategic aim of our two, shall we say, liberation armies,’ Kaukji said, assuming the air of a man who believed himself to be an outstanding military mind, ‘is obvious. Abdul Kadar and I shall seize as much of Palestine as is possible before the formal invasion by the regular Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.’

‘Excuse me,’ Haj Ibrahim said, ‘I am but a simple and humble fellah, not versed in military matters. But your volunteers, pardon me, your armies, are of the same general composition as they were ten years ago. Today the Jews are better trained, better armed, better organized, and better commanded than they were ten years ago. Ten years ago you were unable to dislodge a single Jewish settlement. What makes you believe, united though we may be, that it will be any different this time?’

He is being troublesome, Kabir thought, very troublesome.

‘We did not succeed the last time,’ Abdul Kadar said, ‘because we spent our strength fighting each other. That condition no longer exists.’

By Allah’s beard, I really believe he has talked himself into believing the camel will leave his hump at the hole. He believes we have changed our nature, overnight. Dear brother, Abdul Kadar, you don’t know donkey shit from mother’s milk.

‘There are many other differences,’ Kaukji said, jumping in quickly. He laid his riding crop on the table and stared at the ceiling and gestured with his hand as though lecturing abstractly to cadets. ‘Namely, one. This time the Jews will not have the British to save them. We have been assured by the highest levels of the British command that they will not interfere with the operations of the two volunteer armies, even though the British are still in the country. We have been further assured that, as they withdraw, they will turn over all major strategic positions to us. By May fifteen next year when the British are out, there will not be enough Jews left for them to declare independence, or even a quorum to give prayers for their dead.’

Kabir and Abdul Kadar allowed themselves a laugh.

Kaukji nodded and went on. ‘Point two. This time we are bringing in tanks, artillery, heavy weapons of all types that we did not have previously. We will hit the Jew with a firepower he has never tasted before. Once I have captured a half dozen of their settlements, and no question of that, I envision a panic sweeping over them. We shall give them the sea to flee into.’

Kaukji quickly held up his hand to silence Ibrahim. ‘Three,’ he said, ‘this time we have the armies of the entire Arab world to back us up. Even now we have officers from the regular armies and we can slip in units of regular armies and integrate them into the forces of Abdul Kadar and myself.’

‘The British have a hundred thousand troops in Palestine. Yet the Jews have forced them to give up the Mandate,’ Haj Ibrahim retorted.

‘But,’ Kaukji answered, ‘the British played games with the Jews. We will not show them the same mercy. A hundred thousand Arab troops in Palestine and a hundred thousand British troops in Palestine are not the same.’

‘I’m sure you are prepared to take heavy losses,’ Haj Ibrahim pressed. ‘The Jews will not go down easily.’

‘We may lose thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, but we will gain victory if it takes the last drop of Arab blood,’ Abdul Kadar intoned.

Aha! The last drop of blood. When have I heard that one before. Like the hundreds of thousands of men who said they would enlist in the Army of Liberation and ran out of stomach before they got to the recruiting office? The three of them have drunk too much of the wine of words. They are intoxicated by their own rhetoric. Perhaps not Kabir. He alone is working out a reality for himself. But Abdul Kadar and the generalissimo? They do not know where one command begins and the other ends. They will be fighting with the same old unskilled gangs. The Jews will be brave because bravery often comes from the lack of choice. But who among these three knows which one has made secret alliances with which Arab leaders?

‘I would be the last man in Islam to question the field marshal’s wisdom, but, in the event your armies do not meet with the initial success hoped for and the regular Arab armies are called upon, what will be their price? I ask you, Abdul Kadar, what will Abdullah want in return for bringing the Arab Legion over? Jerusalem? Or do you expect him to hand it back to you on a platter? Will they all pack up and leave and say to us, “Here, brothers, we give you Palestine”? Or perhaps they might want a few, you know, border changes for their participation.’

There was a shrieking silence. Faces reddened.

Kabir stepped in quickly. ‘It is a simple matter. After the Jews have been destroyed, by whatever means and by whichever armies, we shall call a conference and work out an agreement. There will be enough spoils for everyone.’

When has Abdullah ever agreed with Egypt on anything? When has Syria agreed with Lebanon? When has Iraq agreed with anyone? How long will the conference last? A thousand years?

‘The main point you are missing, Haj Ibrahim,’ Abdul Kadar said, ‘is that we are unified and that we will win. What is the final difference so long as we are ruled by Arabs and not Jews?’

‘Pardon my ignorance, my brothers, but I was under the impression that Palestine was going to be liberated for the Palestinians,’ Haj Ibrahim retorted. ‘I think the time to hold the conference is now, before anybody starts shooting, and make certain we all have a clear picture of who is in it for what.’

‘So let me summarize,’ Kabir said, evading Ibrahim’s charges and questions. ‘The Jews, one way or another, have no possibility of surviving.’ Abdul and Kaukji nodded in agreement.

‘So now that we have crushed the Jews, at least in this discussion, why was I summoned here?’ Haj Ibrahim said acidly.

The other three exchanged glances.

Kabir did a throat-clearing, finger-tapping, moustache-twisting routine. ‘All our military minds agree, and I concur, that the key to ultimate victory will be to cut off Jewish Jerusalem,’ he said, and deferred to Kaukji.

‘This round,’ Kaukji said, ‘my army and Abdul Kadar’s Army of the Jihad will be in perfect coordination and we will throw everything into blockading them. You know the Bab el Wad. Not a single Jewish truck will get through.’

‘The Army of the Jihad,’ Abdul Kadar said with rising emotion, his finger pointing and shaking at the air, ‘will have many thousands of men in Jerusalem and along the highway. But I will also have over a thousand men in Lydda and Ramle to seize the airport!’

‘We shall set up very sophisticated communications,’ Kaukji cut in, ‘and every time a Jewish car, truck, bus, or convoy leaves Tel Aviv, we will know the instant they reach Lydda and we will alert thousands of men already in position to stop them. How? Every Arab village from Ramle to Jerusalem must be opened to our observers and our troops.’

‘I see three problems,’ Haj Ibrahim said in a subtle mockery of Kaukji’s earlier dissertation. ‘One. Tabah commands a key position on the road. So does Shemesh Kibbutz. Two. Shemesh Kibbutz controls our water. Three. Shemesh Kibbutz knows everything that is going on in Tabah. I regret they have excellent information supplied by spies of my own clan and tribe. If the Jews know we are cooperating openly with your ... err ... armies, they will attack us.’

‘This brings us to the point of the meeting,’ Kabir said. ‘It is a difficult point, a very difficult point. Generalissimo Kaukji has conferred with the chiefs of staff of all the Arab states. We consider that it would be better to remove our people from a number of sensitive strategic locations.’

‘You must evacuate Tabah,’ Kaukji said, ‘in order to give our forces a free run of things.’

So that was it! Oh, Allah, how could you let this befall me! It is madness! It cannot be true! No! No! Evacuate Tabah! On behalf of these fools!

‘You must evacuate,’ Abdul Kadar repeated.

‘But where shall we go?’ Haj Ibrahim mumbled as if in a stupor.

‘You have a great tribe in the desert. They are your cousins.’

‘But the Wahhabis live in privation. They cannot take in and feed two hundred more families.’

‘Let me tell you very confidentially,’ Kabir said. ‘I am negotiating with both the Syrians and Abdullah. They have expressed a definite willingness to take under consideration having you as guests until our armies have completed the job. We are suggesting that a number of other villages, even cities, evacuate. Obviously, we will make suitable arrangements for everyone.’

‘But you said they are only considering taking us. No one has said they will take us. I must hear it from Abdullah himself. Why doesn’t he have someone here? I cannot simply pick up a thousand people and go nowhere.’

‘Haj Ibrahim, this is war, holy war. You have no choice. Now listen, my brother. It will be a short war, a few weeks, a few months at most,’ Kabir oozed. ‘I say, sitting before you in the presence of Generalissimo Kaukji and Abdul Kadar Heusseini of Palestine’s most noble family ... .and I swear to you on Allah’s name that when you return, one third of the land of Shemesh Kibbutz will be yours.’

Haj Ibrahim was numbed and enraged but also wise enough to realize when a decision beyond his control was being imposed. He had neither room to maneuver nor bargaining points.

‘My army will be crossing the border in a few weeks, after the new year,’ Kaukji said. ‘After I have captured a number of settlements and stampeded the Jews, Abdul Kadar’s Army of the Jihad will unite with me and squeeze off Jerusalem. There is no way the Jews can defend all the roads ... unless some of our brothers choose not to cooperate.’

‘We will advise you,’ Kabir said, ‘exactly when to evacuate. You will take your people directly to Jaffa.’

‘Jaffa? Why Jaffa?’

‘To put them first in a safe place. In the event you are unable to get to Gaza by road, you will have an alternative, to leave by sea. Either you go to Gaza or when my negotiations with the Syrians are concluded, you can be shipped up to Syria. I have funds for a boat and instructions for you in Jaffa.’

‘But settlement will cost a fortune,’ Ibrahim protested.

‘I pay, I pay,’ Kabir said.

‘In return for what? Your charity is not exactly legend,’ Ibrahim retorted.

‘I pay for an Arab victory!’

‘Very well, but before I leave for Jaffa, I must have the funds in my hands,’ Ibrahim said.

‘Of course, of course. One thousand British pounds.’

‘To evacuate and resettle over two hundred families? I cannot go with less than five thousand.’

‘We will work out these minor details,’ Kabir said, switching subjects. ‘You will all be back in Tabah in time for fall planting. And most importantly, you can live forever without fear of a Zionist state.’

Here are my leaders. The vanguard of more leaders reeking of personal ambition and greed, maniacal for power. They have their cause now, their noble cause. I am as much to blame, for I have never really thought in terms of peace with the Jews. None of us is capable of even thinking in such terms. But there is no real plan
, no
organization, no stated set of goals; only to recruit an armed mob and dupe themselves into believing it will overrun the Jews. What donkeys! What fantasy-chasing idiots! They are leading my people into an eternity of suffering.

Haj Ibrahim declined the Effendi’s further hospitality and asked to be returned to Tabah.

When he was gone the other three reduced their agreement to a written contract overseen by Dandash. Kabir would give the two armies letters of credit to purchase arms. He would use his personal contacts in the Arab governments and Arab financial institutions to raise money to continue recruiting volunteers by offering large bonuses. Further moneys would continue to come to pay for the troops’ salaries and for operations.

As payment for this, Kabir was to be assured of the return of all his lands in the Valley of Ayalon. Most importantly, he was to receive title to Shemesh Kibbutz and fifteen other Jewish settlements. The Jewish lands were a gold mine. The strategic location of his fiefdom would put him into a position of a major political power in any future division of Palestine.

Dandash was sent off to put it to formal documents.

‘What of Haj Ibrahim,’ Abdul Kadar said. ‘Will he evacuate? There has always been the rumor that he cooperated with the Jews during my uncle’s rebellion.’

‘Haj Ibrahim is a pragmatic man. He will take his people to Jaffa when we tell him to do so.’

‘That fart eater will pay for what he did to my men,’ Kaukji said. ‘I have waited ten years for my vengeance.’

‘I am directing him to Jaffa for you, am I not?’ Kabir said. ‘Once he is in Jaffa, he will be in your hands. I see nothing. I hear nothing. I speak nothing.’