Nazis planned Palestine subversion

By Rick Fountain at the Public Record Office

British secret intelligence files have been released in London about a German wartime plan for subversion in Palestine, when the territory was administered by Britain.

The plot involved parachute landings, thousands of gold coins and the Arab Muslim leader, Mohammed Amin el-Hussaini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was then living in exile in Berlin.

It also had the approval of Hitler's security chief, Heinrich Himmler.

But the project ended in fiasco.

Hostility

Palestine in 1944 was in a state of ferment, with the British Mandate authorities struggling to keep the lid on violent hostility between Arab and Jewish communities.

The Germans, on the other hand, wanted to make things a great deal worse and planned - with the support of the Grand Mufti - to arm Palestinian villagers and incite them to rise up against the Jews.

A small commando team of two German officers and three Arabs was formed in Berlin in early 1944.

Their leader, Colonel Kurt Wieland, an Arabic speaker who knew Palestine, had several meetings with the Mufti and they agreed a plan: drop by parachute, establish a base, gather intelligence and radio it back to Berlin; and recruit and arm Palestinian supporters with Nazi gold.

Just how it all went wrong is documented in the transcripts of interrogations by MI5 officers of Colonel Wieland and two of his men who were captured.

Meddling

Before the team flew out, the Mufti's people meddled in Colonel Wieland's careful plans, changing his equipment without telling him.

The first flight was abandoned.

Then when they were on their way, in October 1944, the pilot lost his way and flew too high when they began their jump.

They had planned a landing north of Jericho but instead landed south, lost their radio equipment and became separated.

Colonel Wieland and his two companions hid in an Arab village, in a cave and a ruined monastery.

They found no support for any Arab uprising and were captured a week later.

The other two men were never found.