The Haj - Leon Uris [92]
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,