The general strike which broke out in Palestine in April 1936 was, in a way, an emulation of the Syrian nationalist outburst earlier that year. The latter had come in response to French reluctance to conclude a bilateral treaty and Abdallah had not hesitated to try to use it to his own ends. He let it be known to both the British and the French that he was willing to accept the Syrian crown as a means of putting an end to the upheavals. Both powers, however, were less than enthusiastic about the prospect. Britain’s High Commissioner in Palestine, Arthur Wauchope, was rather explicit in his advice to the Amir: ‘I suggest it would be wiser in future if Your Highness refrains … from all discussions of the situation in neighbouring countries.’1