Summary
British Major General commanding the Northern Sector, seated in Haifa, in Pappe’s account: he removed the British buffer between the communities in April 1948 and advised Haifa’s Palestinian leaders to leave the city, conduct for which Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was furious while Field-Marshal Montgomery defended him.
Details
- On 18 April 1948 Stockwell summoned the Jewish authorities in Haifa and informed them that in two days the British forces would be removed from the buffer locations between the two communities — the only obstacle preventing a direct Jewish assault on the Palestinian areas, where more than 50,000 people still resided (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.123).
- On the morning of 21 April, knowing in advance about the impending Jewish attack, he advised the four Palestinian leaders who came to him that it would be better for their people to leave the city; they, realising the British would not protect them, prepared an organised departure, which the Carmeli Brigade turned into carnage and havoc (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.124).
- When reports of the port scenes reached London, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was furious with Stockwell’s behaviour, but Field-Marshal Montgomery, chief of the imperial staff, defended him (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.126).
- Haifa’s leaders’ last communication to him protested the lack of sympathy shown by the British authorities in rendering aid to the wounded when requested (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, PDF p.126).