ABSTRACT
The British retreat - from partition in November 1938 and then from support of the National Home in May 1939 — was mainly due to pressure from the Arab states in a time of international crisis. Political terror, used mainly by the Hussainis against the Nashashibis, was only one facet of internal Arab violence. Arabic-language publications and attempts to buy off gang leaders are not even mentioned in the available documents as possible ways to end the violence. There was some discussion about encouraging the political elements in Palestinian Arab society opposed to armed struggle, but at least until the early fall of 1938 the Zionists provided very little help to the Nasha-shibis or other groups seeking assistance. The major dissenter from the general Zionist feeling that the British were wrong in their estimation of the Arab threat was Ben-Gurion.
