The United Nations, indeed! The tall blond man snorted and crumpled the letter and threw it to the floor. A week before Haven-Hurst had ordered a boycott on all Jewish places of business.
This was to be his thanks after fighting the Jews for five years. He had warned the Home Office in World War II not to take these Jews into the British Army but no, they wouldn’t listen. Now, lose the Palestine mandate. Haven-Hurst went to his desk and began working on an answer to Bradshaw’s letter.
I propose immediate adoption of the following points, which in my opinion will stabilize Palestine.
1. Suspension of all civil courts with fines and punishments and prison terms to be dispensed by the military commander.
2. Dissolve the Yishuv Central, disband the Zion Settlement Society and all other agencies of the Jews.
3. Cessation of all Jewish newspapers and publications.
4. Swift, quiet elimination of some sixty top Yishuv leaders. Ha] Amin el Husseini has proved this method successful against his political opposition. This phase could be carried out by Arab confederates.
5. Complete use of the Arab Legion of Trans-Jordan.
6. Imprisonment of several hundred secondary leaders in the Yishuv and their subsequent quick banishment to some remote African colonies.
7. Grant the military commander the right to destroy any kibbutz, moshav, village, or part of a city found with arms. Institute a nationwide screening with all illegals to be deported at once.
8. Impose collective fines against the entire Jewish population for every act of Maccabee terror, and place these fines so high the Jews will begin to co-operate in the apprehension of these gangsters.
9. Offer larger rewards for information on key Maccabee terrorists, Aliyah Bet agents, Haganah heads, etc.
10. Hang or execute every apprehended Maccabee gangster on the spot.
11. Institute a series of boycotts on Jewish business, farm products, and halt all Jewish imports and exports. Keep complete control on all the movements of all Jewish vehicles.
12. Destroy the Palmach by armed attacks on kibbutzim known to be harboring them.
My forces have been compelled to operate under most difficult circumstances. We have been made to follow the rules and restrain ourselves from the widest and most effective use of our powers. On the other hand the Maccabees, Haganah, Palmach, and Aliyah Bet observe no rules and, indeed, attack
our restraint as a weakness. If I am allowed to use my power I assure that order will be restored in short time.
General Sir Arnold Haven-Hurst
KBE, CB, DSO, MC
CHATHAM HOUSE, INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN RELATIONS, LONDON
Cecil Bradshaw’s color was a sickly gray when General Tevor-Browne finally reached his office.
“Well, Bradshaw, you asked Haven-Hurst for his ideas. You have them now.”
“Has the man gone mad? Good Lord, his report reads like Adolf Hitler’s ‘Final Solution.’ ”
Bradshaw picked up the twelve-point “Haven-Hurst Report” and shook his head. “God knows we want to keep Palestine, but murder, burning villages, hangings, starvation? I cannot recommend this beastly thing. Even if I did I don’t know whether you have enough men in the British Army who could carry it out. I’ve been for the Empire all my life, Sir Clarence, and many’s the time we’ve had to take harsh and unfair measures in our own behalf. But I also believe in God. We’re just not going to hold Palestine this way. I wash my hands of the matter. Let someone else endorse Haven-Hurst… I won’t.”
Cecil Bradshaw took the “Haven-Hurst Report” and crumpled it. He put it in his large ash tray and put a match to it and watched it burn. “Thank God, we’ve got the courage to answer for our sins,” he whispered.
The question of the Palestine mandate was thrown open to the United Nations.
CHAPTER SEVEN: Now it was the late spring of 1947 and Ari Ben Canaan disappeared from Kitty Fremont’s life. She did not see or hear from him after Mount Tabor. If Ari had given any messages to Jordana, Jordana had not delivered them. The two women scarcely spoke a word to each other. Kitty tried to be tolerant but Jordana made even that difficult.
The Palestine mandate issue was handed over for the United Nations to attempt to unscramble it. United Nations machinery was in the process of forming a committee of small, neutral nations to investigate the problem and come up with recommendations for the General Assembly. The Yishuv Central and the World Zionists accepted mediation of the problem by the United Nations. On the other side, the Arabs used threats, boycotts, blackmail, and any other pressure
they could find to keep the Palestine issue away from an impartial judgment.
At Gan Dafna the Gadna military training speeded up. The Youth Village became a chief arms depot. Rifles were brought in to be cleaned by the children and then smuggled in village tracks to Huleh settlements and the Palmach. Time and again Karen was called upon to go out on arms-smuggling missions. The assignments were accepted by her and the other children without question. Kitty’s heart was in her mouth every time Karen went out, but she had to keep her silence.
Karen doggedly continued to press the search for her father without success. The once bright promise at La Ciotat faded.
The girl retained contact with the Hansens in Denmark. Karen wrote each week, and each week a letter and often a package arrived from Copenhagen. Meta and Aage Hansen had given up all hope of ever getting her back. Even if Karen did not find her father there was something in the girl’s letters that indicated she was lost to them. Karen’s identification with Palestine and being Jewish became a nearly complete thing. The only qualification was Kitty Fremont.
Dov Landau was taking strange turns. At times he would appear to be breaking out of his reclusion, and in those moments he and Karen added a deeper dimension to their relationship. Then the very audacity of his coming into the clear light would force Dov back into his shell. Whenever he was able to reason about his role he disliked himself for what he felt he was doing to Karen. Then loyalty to him produced self-pity and he at once hated and loved her. He felt he must not contaminate Karen with himself, yet he did not wish to cut off his only link with humanity. The times he would sink back again into bitterness he often stared at the blue tattoo number on his arm by the hour. He would turn to his books and his painting with a savage concentration and close out all living things. Just as he neared the bottom, Karen would succeed in pulling him out of it. His bitterness never quite grew so deep that he could turn on her.
In the time that Kitty Fremont had been at Gan Dafna she had made herself one of the most important persons in the village. Dr. Lieberman leaned on her more each day. Looked upon as a sympathetic outsider, she was frequently able to exert the needed extra influence of someone “outside the family.” Dr. Lieberman’s friendship was becoming one of the most rewarding she had ever known. She was completely integrated into the life of Gan Dafna; she did splendid work with disturbed children. Yet a barrier still remained. She knew that she was partly responsible for it but she wanted it that way.
Kitty was far more at ease with Bruce Sutherland than she was with the people of Gan Dafna. With Sutherland she was in her own element and she looked forward with increasing impatience to those free days that she and Karen could spend at his villa. When she was with Sutherland it renewed her awareness of the difference between herself and the Jews.
Harriet Saltzman came to Gan Dafna two times. On both occasions the old woman pleaded with Kitty to take charge of one of the new Youth Aliyah Centers in the Tel Aviv area. Kitty was a wizard at organization and a stickler for routine. This, plus her over-all experience and ability was badly needed at places not so well run as Gan Dafna. Harriet Saltzman wisely calculated that the “outside” influence of a Kitty Fremont would be a tremendous asset to a Youth Aliyah Center.