TALE OF A CITY 150 In the morning, both Sheikhs arrived one after the other to the Officer’s area in Sharjah Aerodrome. After the usual hospitality, the Sheikhs and their escorts headed for the aerodrome grounds where the could see the air show. The two Sheikhs had no idea what arrangements had been made for them to see afterwards. It was not too long before they could see the bombers at a distance dropping their rockets and kicking up dust and sand into the air. The purpose was clearly to instill fear in the heart of Sheikh Muhammad bin Saqr al-Qasimi in particular.4 In the Qasimia School of Sharjah, however, the students sang the words written by Muhammad bin Ali al-Mahmoud: O, Protectors of the Homeland, to you be peace, The souls of the glorious refuse to be humiliated. The redoubt of the Arabs is a sacred place, And the dominion of the Sheikhs is a sanctity that cannot be violated. Palestine and the Jews Following their occupation of Palestine, the Jews from all over the world started emigrating in droves to the Holy Land. The information available to the Arabs indicated that the Jews were arriving by sea from Europe and by air from Baghdad through Habbaniyyah assisted by the English in Iraq. No Arab would have been able to guess Sharjah as being the major crossing point for the transfer of the Jews coming from India, East Asia, Russia, Germany and Poland until I made that discovery through checking official British records providing damning evidence that showed the direct involvement of British Government in the process. The documents also show clear admission of participation in the planning of such transfer via Sharjah. The Political Officer in the Sharjah British Agency, Mr Patrick Stobart, wrote a secret letter to the Political Agent in Bahrain, Mr Pelly, dated 8 March 1950 where he stated:5 4 Ibid., p.14. 5 B.L./F.O.371/93158, 0405/2/2.
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