174
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
greatest, but chances of detection were least. I had no other
decent place to sleep. At the Osborne House the boys slept on
lice-ridden mats on a filthy floor, and ate a monotonous diet
of olives, onions, cheese, and dried bread. I had had enough
of native life—at least for a while—and once I'd tasted the
luxury of the YMCA I could not withstand the prospect of an
appetizing hot meal, a hot shower, and a breakfast of bacon,
eggs, and coffee. But to appease Moustafa and Faris, I ate
lunch with the boys, helped clean the place, and told Moustafa that friends in the Armenian quarter in the Old City
insisted I sleep with them.
"After all, Moustafa," I said, "are these not my people, of
my faith? I have enjoyed your hospitality for many weeks. Let
me now enjoy the call of blood before the big fighting begins.
Who knows what Allah will have in store for me by then?"
My double life had other complications. To the half dozen
Arab credentials I carried I added a green card from Deir
Aboutor headquarters stating that I was with the Moustafa el
Wakil Batallion3 of the Green Shirts, and that my "friendship to the Arabs has been confirmed on every occasion."
Another card was from the British Public Information Office,
press headquarters of the Palestine Mandate Government. In
addition, it was necessary to obtain permits to enter the various zones into which Jerusalem had been divided by the British. Later, on May 14, when the Jews took over the Public
Information Office upon the departure of the British, I added
a Jewish press pass, and hid my formidable Arabic collection.
In order not to confuse matters, I kept each set in a different pocket. The scheme worked well except that sometimes
in hurry or excitement I forgot which pocket contained which,
and more than once at the wrong time was on the point of
pulling forth a batch of credentials that would have promptly
settled my undercover activities in a fashion I don't care to
3
Named after a Green Shirt hero who participated in the pro-Nazi revolt in Iraq, and later escaped to Germany where he died during the war. The
Green Shirts now regard this Mufti aide and Nazi collaborator as a "saint."