London: The Odyssey Begins
33
I asked about the Mufti.
"He's in good health. He's in Cairo now. He goes back and
forth between Cairo and Damascus. He has headquarters
everywhere in the Middle East." Shawa Bey paused. "These
next months are very important. The Jews will learn that
quickly."
I rose to go. In the outer room, young British veterans of
World War II in civilian dress were waiting to be interviewed.
Within a few months I was to see them righting and dying
for the Arab cause under Arab names. I was to see them buried
in unknown graves, in Moslem cemeteries, unhonored and
unsung. I was to see them as prisoners of war in Israel. Izzedeen Shawa Bey rose to his feet.
"Good-bye," he said, "We might meet again in Egypt or
Palestine."
If we did, I hoped he wouldn't recognize me!
Shawa Bey had mentioned the name of Miss Frances E.
Newton. I looked her up and called upon her immediately.
She lived near Canning.
"Who are you?" she asked. She wore a white patch over one
eye.
"A friend of Gordon-Canning and of Izzed-een Shawa Bey."
"Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine," Miss Newton
said.
She was a plump, elderly woman. She told me she had lived
in Jerusalem, and was a Dame of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. She was also secretary of the Anglo-Arab Friendship
Society. Its brochure, "The Truth about the Mufti," was a
complete exoneration of the Mufti, and cited him for his
"integrity and leadership," completely glossing over his role
as the leading Arab Nazi.6 A signer of the brochure was "Y.
Bandek, Arab Liaison." Later, Yusif Bandek became an active
Arab propagandist in the United States, working closely with
6
The Mufti's role as a war criminal is discussed in Chapter XXII.