e of responsibility and to avoid harsh measures against the rebellion. His forbearance was criticized sharply by the Jews, 70 Jews were murdered and the Arabs injured several hundred. The inability of Britain to control these rebels was slowly chewing on the British prestige. A powerful country such as Britain, with such mighty force could not stop these small rebels. The British had their reasons why they could not control these rebels. The first was the inability of the military to both protect the civil government and to reinforce the police, especially because of the fear that the Arab section of the police was unreliable. The second handicap was that the enemy was indistinguishable from the civilians, which meant restriction on the use of weapons. It was also very difficult to keep operations secret, and in the same token, reliable information about the enemy was hard to come by. But to the eyes of the world, Great Britain had failed to control this area and stop the rioters. On 2 September 1936, the British decided to apply a lot more force. Hopes of negotiation through Nuri Said, Foreign Minister of Iraq, had been completely frustrated and left the British no other choice. Palestine Emergency Force, an infantry division, was to be added to the force in Palestine, and the command was transferred to J. G. Dill. On 7 September the government announced that it was preparing to introduce martial law. Dill was determined to take control from the rebels and not just use the force as a passive defense. He believed that martial law should be "applied to the country as a whole". Dill was convinced that the Arab leaders feared martial law since it would bring in military troops. Only thing that stood in the way of Dill was the approval of the High Commissioner. The High Commissioner did not give the Arab Higher Committee an ultimatum; he just allowed them to finish their strike on their own will. Dill lamented that "instead of British autho...
