ABSTRACT
The outbreak of war brought something like a panic to the peoples of Palestine. The rumours that spread in all directions led to the hoarding of food and other necessities and to a run on the banks. The Jews and Arabs were segregated in separate companies, and once again, as in the First World War, there were all-Jewish companies and battalions on active service in the British Army. There had been a demand for Jewish regiments to be raised for the defence of Palestine even before the outbreak of war, and even for a Jewish army to fight in alliance with the British, but no encouragement had been given in Whitehall or Downing Street to these demands. Palestinians, for the most part Jews, had served in France in the first months of the War and also took their place in the British armies in Greece where, apart from other casualties, several hundreds were taken prisoner.
