The Haj - Leon Uris [89]
‘Please,’ he said.
‘Thank you, I’ll treasure it,’ she whispered.
‘Now, if you please, I must meditate.’
‘Haj Ibrahim.’
‘Yes?’
‘Please be careful of Kabir. He is treacherous.’
A brackish streamlet of the Barada River slugged its way past the veranda. The fragrance of the Damascus roses hung on silenced air. Haj Ibrahim sat and contemplated. Since Ishmael had been reading to him, he had learned many new things and reasoned out others.
Haj Amin al Heusseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was his blood enemy. Now the Mufti was wanted by the Allies as a war criminal. He jumped a ‘gentleman’s’ detention by the French and escaped into the Arab world, which showed no embarrassment at sheltering him. Indeed, he and his philosophies were revered. Unable to return to Palestine, the Mufti directed his continuing vendetta against the Jews from various Arab capitals.
The instant the United Nations voted for the partition of Palestine, the Mufti appointed a nephew, Abdul Kadar Heusseini, to enlist and command a force of volunteers on his behalf. The Heusseini tribe and clans were mainly in the Jerusalem area. The volunteers were to be known as the Army of the Jihad.
Abdul Kadar knew almost nothing about military matters, but he was popular from Hebron to Ramallah along the West Bank. He had become the surrogate of his uncle and titular leader of the Arabs in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Ibrahim knew that the militia he was recruiting consisted of a potpourri of unemployed workers, youth clubs, fanatics from the Moslem Brotherhood, farmers, and tradesmen. They knew even less about military matters.
A few thousand Palestinian Arabs had received British training in the war and another few thousand were members of the police and border guards. This Army of the Jihad would consist of five or six thousand men with small arms and without real organization or leadership.
During the Mufti’s revolt a similar militia calling themselves Mojahedeen the Warriors of God, had very limited success against the Jews, mainly on the vulnerable Jerusalem road. Their greatest victories were over fellow Arabs and came by assassinating and massacring the Mufti’s political opposition. Certainly this new Army of the Jihad would have minimal effect. In Haj Ibrahim’s mind it could be all but written off.
His thoughts turned to another old worm who had come out of the woodwork. Kaukji, who was either Lebanese, Syrian, or Iraqi, had spent the war in Nazi Germany. His Irregulars had had a miserable record during the Mufti’s revolt. They were a ragtag band of brigands who evaporated every time a battle heated up.
Haj Ibrahim was more concerned about the defeat he had administered to Kaukji. He knew he was a candidate for Kaukji’s revenge, for one does not forget in this world.
Haj Ibrahim also knew that in the fanciful Arab mind the terrible record of Kaukji could convolute defeat into victory. Somehow Kaukji still remained a respected military figure in the Arab world. Always on the prowl for spoils, Kaukji announced formation of an Arab Army of Liberation to be recruited from Morocco to Oman, an army of many thousands of volunteers. They would be supported by a variety of Arab treasuries.
Tens of thousands of Arabs answered his call on the night of the partition vote, swearing to volunteer. Their anger was quickly spent. In the end, a few hundred idealists found their way to the Army of Liberation’s recruiting offices.
With his ranks empty, Kaukji set out to purchase an army. He found the best mercenaries available among the Arabs. Bonus money always brought a response, but this time the response was poor. He found former Nazis hiding among the Arabs, British deserters, Italian