Police Work in Palestine
| Published date | 01 July 1940 |
| Date | 01 July 1940 |
| Author | Henry H. Marsh |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4001300315 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Police
Work in Palestine
By
HENRY
H.
MARSH
Late
of
the
Palestine
Police
A
FORCE
more military
than
civil upholds the law in the
Holy
Land
and rules these areas of
the
country where
lawlessness abides.
From
the Arab owners of
much
decrepit
property and more congenial orange groves to the roaming
Bedouin who daily flits with his sacking tent, law, as it is
recognised in a country of so many nationalities, is enforced
by the Palestine Police.
It
is by the native section of the Force, however,
that
much of the work of discovering and tracking down criminals
is undertaken. Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, with asprinkling of
Greeks, these are officers of proved ability who are retained
solely for investigation
work-work
which in many of its
phases is almost on a
par
with
that
of Scotland Yard.
Many
of
them
speak the three official languages, Arabic, Hebrew and
English-a
considerable advantage over the British Section
who as a rule can
but
speak one besides their own, Arabic, and
then
only after aconsiderable time spent either in study, or,
better still, mixing among the actual natives of the country.
I am writing in March, amonth when anything might
happen in this
part
of the world.
The
raiding tribes of
the
hills, who occasionally come in contact with
the
Police; the
Druzes,
the
Wakfs of Nowhere, are ready, when the signal is
given, to wipe
out
their felonies and misdemeanours in one
glorious burst of heroism, defending their country from the
ravages of either the Nazis or the Russian Red army. As I
write, the Near
East-as
everybody
knows-is
a huge soldiers'
camp, with as many police as can possibly be recruited from
England.
But
on this point Imust say no more.
In order to fully understand
the
workings of the Force
342
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