'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎81v] (167/294)

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It was argued that the more aggressive Jews - particularly in the ranks
of the Supernumerary Police - might use their .aims offensively in an
indiscriminate manner, while those who were less aggressive would need
British Police to protect them from the Arab inhabitants. Thus the
Jewish T’olice were kept in the towns and in purely Jewish areas and
as there were nothing like enough British Police to go round, Arab
areas were left mostly to the Arab police.
To some extent the prevailing low opinion of their martial Quali
ties may have been responsible for the low proportion of Jews in "the
regular Police Force. There were however other important reasons for
this: the Jew demanded a higher salary and 'was disinclined to work in
a rural area. At the beginning of 1956 there were less than 400
Jewish regulars and this number only increased by about 100 during the
course of the year. A large proportion were confined to Tel Aviv
whence they could not be moved owing to the terms of their enlistment.
Special Constables
On the outbreak of the rebellion a number of British civilians and
some Jews did duty as Special Constables in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Jaffa-
-cl -T-viy; but once it became clear that the period of unrest was likely
to continue indefinitely the majority were compelled to curtail police
services more and more to attend to their own businesses. Once the
danger point had been passed with the arrival of substantial military
reinforcements most of the Special Constables returned to their normal
activities. It is perhaps questionable whether their services were
used to the best advantage: most of them were of the type which might
nave provided officers, and officers - particularly British officers -
were sorely needed for the Supernumerary Police. It is possible that
ne young English business man would have found more congenial and use-
Ul employment in officering Supernumerary Police than in standing
guard after office hours over a bank or post office. Better still
per^ps ad they been used as guides and liaison officers with the
; Lhos e who were s o employed in one or two cases were invaluable,
!^ W + ea £! 0l '! :ne " r:i - ct > the people and the language proved
" ^ ^ asse " to the ^its to which they were attached.
The Supernumerary Police
of i^n^ 0 ?e^f r, ^r^ 8 o ^Tjr- roUed dur ys 1936 > three-quarters
and imm-i ^ i 000 oaa Ar abs were employed upon the railways
StabShed in °b’ f ° med P^sonnel of puniti've police posts
ghaffirs watchinc h I- 1 and continued to perform the duties of
private ororKTr-tJ hf r0 ' Dllu , or Private property. Those who guarded
by the Ss SUC h as . Ara h" ° range groves etc, were paid
the Jewish settlements aufportion^ofh’ie th ? 1 JeW8 W ? re used to
Jewish area'?* « 4 - 1 tl0n ^ of the railway which ran through
the Jewish hencv ° 0S * ^ half by the Government and half by
JevrLsh ghaffirs /' The tra^^ofthe als ° P^vately-employed
necessity very sketch/ q-nri ’ ,7 > - u per numerary Police v/as of
done than to teach the’man to use^his'riflo^^Tb ^ ^’-^tion
a °nd S C: wL 0 somet/;7 ^ tolLf 7^7^ poli
to make recognition difficult 011 1 T 1 J dlvl ^ uallt y a ^out their uniforms as
undoubtedly gained the cf'iro 4 -’-p 1 ' ,everth f less the Supernumerary Police
izsu* tstsz s“,‘S «*-• -
their care. ’ ° lna,i °t all tnac was. entrusted to