The Struggle for Independence 185
liament as \ great Jewish victory', and indeed the debates were a
'striking illustration of the disadvantage which the Arabs suffer
whenever the field of controversy shifts from Palestine to the
United Kingdom'.1 The Arabs interpreted the abandonment of
the proposal as proof that they had no constitutional means of
resisting their political subordination to the Jews who, at the
present peak of immigration, would be in a majority within
twelve years. It must have seemed to them, encouraged by the
increase of violence in the wrhole world since the Japanese invasion
of Manchuria four years before, that their only salvation lay in
armed insurrection. Disturbances in mid-April 1936 began on a
scale hardly greater than had been customary in recent months: two
Jews were murdered by Arab bandits; on the following night two
Arabs were murdered near a Jewish town, as an act of reprisal as the
Arabs believed; the funeral of one of the murdered Jews led to
angry Jewish demonstrations and a series of assaults on Arabs in
Tel Aviv; excited by false rumours that Arabs had been killed
there, Arab mobs in Jaffa murdered three Jews. At this moment an
Arab National Committee proclaimed a general strike throughout
the whole country until their demands of the previous November
were met, and set up the Arab Higher Committee composed of all
Arab parties. The strike was effective, and was accompanied by
assaults on Jews and much destruction of Jewish trees and crops.
The British government announced its intention to send out a
Royal Commission to 'investigate the causes of unrest and alleged
grievances' of both communities. Meanwhile Arab violence and
sabotage increased, and armed bands appeared in the hills; among
them were volunteers from Syria and Iraq. Attempts by the Amir
Abdullah of Transjordan and Nuri as-Sa'id, then Foreign Minister
of Iraq, to mediate between the Arab leaders and the government
came to nothing. The activities of the Arab bands increased in
scope and magnitude, they were joined by trained guerilla leaders
from outside Palestine, and sabotage to communications became
frequent and systematic. There were a few acts of reprisal by Jews,
but they were quickly checked by their own authorities; and the
government acknowledged the self-restraint of the Jewish com-
munity in the face of great provocation by enrolling nearly 3,000
as supernumerary constables and authorizing the acquisition of
rifles as an addition to the permitted arms held in the Jewish settle-
1 Royal Commission Report, 92.