ought
word of great unrest in Palestine. That in all likelihood the
British would send their army to help the French, in which case
the Arabs of Palestine were likely to rise in rebellion in the
British army's rear. That was the situation. They were invited
to consider it, and to decide what action, if any, seemed called
for. [*Unbelievers.]

He sat down without having risked his leadership by any statement
of his own attitude. He had simply reported facts that he
believed to be true--facts that many of the notables plainly did
not yet believe, or believed only in part. There followed a
perfect babel of argument, during which the servants passed the
coffee and cakes around. After that, during every interval
between speeches there was more coffee and more cakes--wonderful
cakes made with honey and almonds, immensely filling; but the
more full an Arab gets of stodgy food the more his tongue wags,
until at last he talks himself to sleep.

For ten minutes men were shouting their opinions to one another
to and fro across the room. From what I could make of it there
was not a man who did not advocate putting the whole of Palestine
to the sword forthwith. But it was noticeable that when their
turns came to stand up and address the mejlis their advocacy was
considerably toned down. Everybody seemed to want somebody else
to father the proposal for a raid, although every man pretended
to be anxious to take part in one.

Old Anazeh on my right sat in grim silence, quizzing each talker
in turn with puckered eyes. The only comment he made was a sort
of internal rumbling, suggestive of the preliminary notice of
an earthquake.

At the end of ten minutes Sheikh Ali Shah al Khassib brought
proceedings a step forward by calling for confirmation of the
news of unrest in Palestine. Man after man got up, and, since he
was speaking of others, not of himself, painted the discontent of
the Palestinians in lurid terms. Each man tried to outvie the
other. The first man said they were anxious regarding the
Zionists and keen for a solution of the problem. The second said
they hated the Zionists, and could see no way out of their
predicament but by rebellion. The third said that no Arab in
Palestine could eat for thinking of the Zionist outrage, and that
the heart of every man in El-Kerak should bleed for his
distressed brethren.

To judge by what the fourth and fifth and sixth said, Palestine
was in a state of scarcely su