“Sinai 1914-1918

“Turn out! the outpost for Kantara
Saddle up! and draw your feeds!
A ring of watchers for the Suez
That is all the Empire needs.

“A regiment strung across the desert
At Katia, Dueidar—with no guns
Johnny Turk is only bluffing
Playing “possum” for the Huns.

“Eastertide sees men die—fighting
Katia—incident of war,
They justify their English emblem
A simple cross—no more.

“At Dueidar with better fortune
Caledonia bars the way,
Britain needs no better frontier
Than a Scotsman brought to bay.

“Follow months of weary marching,
Plodding deep in sandy waste,
Water scarce, and sun that’s parching,
Where a man knows what is thirst.

“Marching, fighting, counter-marching,
Till the weeks resemble years,
But what’s that sound we hear behind us,
It’s the railway pioneers.

“They have followed up the outposts,
Sweating in the burning sun,
While the critics in the armchair
Wonder what is being done.

“From Kantara up to Gaza
They wonder what is being done,
They’ll travel up by Pulman,
They won’t find out what’s been done.

“But the men who passed the desert
Pushed step by step across the sand,
They won’t forget the lonely crosses

‘Twixt Egypt and the Promised Land.
“Oh! You pilgrims of the future,
You who seek the Holy Grail,
Spare a moment to the memory
Of the men who “blazed a trail”.

Pear Blossom.”

This poem appeared in Issue 49 of 6th February 1919. Pear Blossom seems a strange name for the tough soldier, who presumably wrote this piece, to adopt, but it was not unusual to see curious pseudonyms in the Palestine News.

Issue 52 of 27th February 1919 carried an article by P.N.W., Benefits Wrought By The Occupation: this was part II of an article called The New Palestine (of which Part 1, issue 41 is not in the Library).

PNW stated that the country had benefitted from the roads which the Germans and Turks had built in preparation for war. However, the War had brought shortages to the country, which was suffering from the fact that its olive trees had been chopped down to fuel the railways.

As for English policy towards the communities in Palestine, PNW stressed that the British intention was to be even-handed:

“some… imagined there would be a reversal of the Turkish partiality towards Moslems. These are doomed to disappointment. They will see equal justice, not a new partiality”.

And, in view of subsequent developments, it is well to note the writer’s reference to—

“…the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who is our friend, and is working in his place and office with the Military Government…”

* The Palestine News started publication in 1918. It described itself as The Weekly Newspaper Of The Egyptian Expeditionary Force Of The British Army In Occupied Enemy Territory, and was published from “G.H.Q. First Echelon, Palestine”. The paper is clearly intended as reading matter for British soldiers.

AC

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Articles From "Palestine News"