A bit of local history
Diane of Gotham has found a 1935 newspaper article reporting the inauguration, that year, of the pipeline the British “Iraq Petroleum Company” built, running from Iraq to Haifa (another pipeline led (leads?) to Tripoli in Lebanon). "You may recall during Gulf War I reference made to the H1, H2 and H3 oilfields. Did you ever wonder what the H stands for? Answer: Haifa. The pipelines used to run from Western Iraq to Haifa".

Having grown up in Haifa, I’ve heard this before. There are also an H4 and an H5 in Jordan. These were (are?) pumping stations. There’s a map on this site (just scroll down a bit) which shows H3 and H4, and also the part of the pipeline that goes up to Tripoli in Lebanon, which was built to serve the French and is the T pipeline (T3 and so on).

Trying to find more information I was sidetracked by this very interesting account of the British Mandate in Palestine 1917-1948, from the point of view of the British Police Force in British Mandate Palestine. It initially annoyed me because I found it impartial and biased towards the Arabs. But having read it all, I think it’s wrong to judge it in that way. The British had no intention of being impartial arbitrators between Arabs and Jews when they arrived in Palestine. They intended to do what they did in all their colonies – use it to further their own interests. Palestine was, as it always has been, a convenient passage area for the transport of goods. In this case it was oil, from the Gulf area, via Haifa, back to Britain. Those pesky Jews were a bother for them. If it hadn’t been for the national aspirations of the Jews the British wouldn’t have had any problem with the local Arabs, who were accustomed to being ruled over by an external power, from afar. The British were an interested party in British Mandate Palestine and this should be remembered, when reading this account.

Some important points: This account is a description of local events, with little effort to put the events into their international historical context. The uninitiated would fail to understand that: A. Small numbers of, mainly Sephardi, Jews had resided in Palestine for centuries. Religious Jewish centers existed in Safed, Tiberias, Jerusalem (Hebron too, I think), long before the arrival of the Zionists. For centuries, some rich Jews, both Sephardi and Ashkenazi, from all over the Jewish world, would risk the hazardous roads to spend their last years in these centers, and be buried in Eretz Hakodesh (the Holy Land) ready for the arrival of the Messiah. B. The large numbers of Ashkenazi Jews were driven here in the early nineteen hundreds by atrocities in Russia and Russian dominated areas, and later, in the nineteen thirties, by the Nazis.

The account also considerably downplays the outright support of the Arabs in Palestine (and elsewhere) for the Nazis in WWII.

There is a lot to be said for the British Mandate. The Turks had neglected this land and the British did a lot to build its infrastructure. We continue to reap the benefits of it to this day. I have mentioned Tegart fortresses, before (Now I know why I couldn’t find any English links at the time. It seems I was misspelling the name). They are mentioned in this account, too. When the British arrived, the great British colony building machine moved into action and started to do its thing here, using the experience of hundreds of years.

The Jewish state continued to build up the country, but some mistakes were made. One major mistake we was canceling the train station the British wisely built in the fledgling Tel Aviv’s business area. The road is still called Rakevet (train) road, although there are no train tracks or station in sight. The customs building is still there, though, looking very strange with its raised platform, high above street level. The train is sorely needed in these days of heavy inner city traffic. Plans for an inner city light train system are finding it hard to get off the ground. I suppose the planners of Tel Aviv in the early years of the state never dreamt Tel Aviv would grow and prosper as it has done. The British didn’t need such dreams to justify the expenditure. They just did things according to long used and tested blueprints.

But I digress. I’m good at that. One of the more informative parts of this British Police account is the chapter that describes the Great Arab Revolt of 1936-1939 (which they call “The Arab Troubles”). Few people in the West realize that the Intifada of the late nineteen eighties was not actually the first Arab uprising here.

The various gangs attacked Jewish settlements and blocked roadways and caused police to abandon small police posts which were then burned down.

In some evacuated areas so-called provisional Arab Governments were set up, imposed their own taxes and even issued their own stamps. On 8th. October, 1938 Jenin police station was attacked but the tiny police garrison managed to hold out until relieved by the Army. Jericho was evacuated and the police station was burned to the ground and while Ramallah was held, the surrounding countryside was dominated and ruled by its local gang. Jerusalem, Beersheba and Gaza came under gang rule but Nablus, Acre and Nazereth were held.

From the autumn of 1937 and through 1938 terrorist bombings increased and every day Arabs and Jews were killed and maimed indiscriminately. Railways were attacked as were Jewish settlements and the Iraq Petroleum Company's pipeline to Haifa was blown up every week. The Jewish settlements managed to defend themselves by the use of illegally obtained rifles although they were officially only allowed the use of Greener guns, a weapon useless for long distance fire. At this time there were two Divisions of the British Army in Palestine and slowly the security forces regained the initiative.

The guys who wrote the account haven’t neglected to supply that very English literary thingamabob (I know you sent me a lovely thesaurus Dad, but even with a thesaurus I need something to start with and it doesn’t list thingamabob) - the comic relief: It was decided in Damascus that for political reasons the Fez or Tarbush should not be worn as headgear and in rural areas the traditional Arab head dress of headcloth and cords or Hatta wa Aqal was worn. Anyone wearing a Fez was likely to be assaulted and this practice became known to Police as "Fez bashing."

[Thank you, Gil, for the tip on the fonts. I know it wasn't intended for me, but I have benefited, nonetheless.]