72
CAIRO TO DAMASCUS
I liked this big shaggy soldier the minute I saw him. Though
his hand played tricks, it was never with my possessions.
Basically his character was honest and simple, uncorruptcd by
the greed and venality about him. Moustafa never professed
to be religious: I never saw him kneel in prayer. A one-time
captain in the Egyptian army, he had been born into a farming family of small landowners. They had given him a good
elementary-school education, and in addition he could read
and write English—rare among Egyptians. But he was a
natural-born fighter and detested farm work. When I met him
he had just returned from an expedition: his next assignment
—due to come within a few weeks—was to lead the Green
Shirt contingents and Followers of Truth into Palestine and
make guerrilla attacks on Jewish outposts.
I had planned to go later to Palestine by myself; but when
I heard this news, I made a quick decision. How much better
to go with Moustafa and his men! How much better to be an
intimate part of the Arab guerrilla movement, than to go as
the typical reporter, always the outsider and stranger. I
broached the subject to Moustafa. "I will come along as your
photographer," I suggested. A few days later, after we found
we hit it off well together, he agreed. When he and his men
would leave for Palestine, I would go with them.
"I will arrange it with Ahmed Hussein," Moustafa said.
I quizzed him on his views on Zionism.
"We are fighting because Palestine is our land and we want
to die there. Even if all the world helps the Jews we know we
will win because our God is the strongest. We are not afraid
to die. The Jews are cowards because they want to live. The
Arab would rather lose ten men than one gun. The Jews are
the opposite. They want to save their lives and lose their guns.
That is one difference between us. Besides, we have plenty of
money," Moustafa went on. "Plenty of ammunition. Plenty
of men. We even have a Tiger tank we stole from the British."
"How did you manage that?"
"We paid £500 to English soldiers who were riding in the