Jenin, the assembly point, was an Arab area, with the usual 'men only' cafes and little else. There were no traffic duties. However, as I once held this responsible position| I was considered a natural to be placed in charge of the armory. This was supposed to be an honor as all personnel passing through on their way to Haifa left their weapons there and arms of any kind were valuable commodities.

One day a very frightened, Head Constable, yes, the obnoxious one from Sarona Camp came running into the armory and requested a Thompson Machine Gun. He was on his way to Haifa and was sure somebody would 'get' him before he got out of Palestine.

It was at my discretion to issue the gun or not, but as much as I disliked him I could not turn him down, I did ask if he felt the danger was from the Jews, the Arabs, or the Police recruits previously under his command. He never did answer me.

As my Arabic was better than most of the regular police, I was asked on three occasions to accompany a policeman to the local Arab Defense Head Quarters to assist them in joining the Arab army, such as it was. I tried to get straight answers as to what they could expect in the way of duty, pay, living conditions etc. and let them make up their own minds. They were promised the sun, moon and stars but I had little hope for a successful sojourn for them as when the Palestinians asked the Lebanese "what should we do when you invade", they were told to "just get out of the way".

A week after such a duty I learned the policeman I had accompanied was killed in a jeep accident.

Jenin was a hot bed of Arab dissension; it was here that the British had army killed the top Arab terrorist, Az-ei Din El Kassam after an Arab woman, who saw him hiding in a cave, betrayed him. This was a disaster as far as the Arabs were concerned as the local leadership had little to offer.

For example, just days before we left Jenln the Arabs decided to attack a small Jewish Kibbutz near Affula. The Jews waved a white flag and asked permission to evacuate and leave the Kibbutz to the Arabs without a fight, as they said they had only old people there. The Arabs agreed and cheered as trucks went to Affula loaded with old people and returned empty for more.

As the last truck was leaving the Jew's gave the all clear and the Arabs charged towards the Kibbutz. Meeting no resistance they fired their weapons in the air in celebration, as was their style. As they reached the Kibbutz they were met with a blistering barrage of gunfire, which almost wiped them out, it appears the trucks leaving the Kibbutz were filled with old people but returned with reinforcements concealed in them. As they say ''all is fair in love and war".

May 15^th 1948 arrived; the only British police left in Palestine were in Jenin and Haifa. All the British army was either in Haifa or had left Palestine.

We packed up what was transportable and set out on an uneventful convoy to Haifa, (that is if one did not count the number of times the truck broke down, which delayed the trip by over two hours.) Although this was a very jittery time, there was little danger as both Arab and Jews were preoccupied with their own problems. In the last few days everybody felt something bad would happen.