The Haj - Leon Uris [91]
‘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