The spate of denials of King Abdullah’s intention to declare war on the Yishuv, which had been made in Palestine, London, and Arab capitals, all refrained from mentioning that the Trans-Jordan Parliament had decided on active intervention by its forces and to mobilize the rest of its manpower, said a Jewish Agency spokesman in Jerusalem yesterday.

Despite all these denials, he said, the Jewish Agency knew that King Abdullah had made preparations to invade Palestine, not, however, solely as an “altruistic and humanitarian effort on the part of a benevolent monarch,” but to fight a “war of conquest and aggrandizement.”

The real reason for Abdullah’s sudden activity was that at last he saw an opportunity of “riding on the backs of the Palestine Arabs to a triumph far greater than that of simply saving the Arabs.”

For years, the spokesman recalled, he had harboured expansionist dreams, and now he considered he had a “sporting chance of achieving more power, influence and territory.”

In recent weeks, concentrations of Iraqis had gone to Trans-Jordan, and they, as well as other Arab forces, were now waiting for the order to move.

The spokesman stressed again that all equipment and arms in the possession of the Arab Legion were exclusively British.

A Government spokesman said in Jerusalem yesterday that there was “no question of armed incursions into Palestine by troops of the Arab Legion.” It was true the Legion units were stationed near Jericho, but they had been sent there from other parts of Palestine and were under the command of the G.O.C.

It was their job, the spokesman said, to protect Allenby Bridge and guard their own lines of exit into Trans-Jordan.

Original Source

April 29, 1948 | © The Palestine Post

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