Arab 'cowards' by ex-spy chief: Secret documents reveal how man in charge of British intelligence in Palestine civil war attacked Jewish troops for fleeing The head of British military intelligence in Palestine during the 1947-48 civil war dismissed the Arab leaders as cowards, previously secret files reveal. Lieutenant Colonel C.R.W. Norman said Arab soldiers were 'following the cowardly example of their inept leaders' by fleeing in their thousands as Jewish forces advanced. In his final fortnightly intelligence report before the British mandate for Palestine was due to end, he reported that the Arabs 'deserted positions and jettisoned arms and equipment' in the Battle of Haifa. A British tank rumbles through battered Jerusalem during the 1947-1948 civil war In his explanation of their actions, Lt Col Norman stated: 'The desertion of their leaders and the sight of so much cowardice in high places completely unnerved the inhabitants.' But the British military chief went on to explain that the Arabs blamed Britain for losing the battle. 'Their leaders immediately set about endeavouring to save their face rather than their only deep water sea port, and the blame for the whole action was placed on the head of the British,' he wrote on May 6 1948. The records on Palestine, released at the National Archives in Kew, West London, also demonstrate how Britain had no faith in Jewish paramilitary organisation Hagana creating a balanced situation in the city of Jaffa. 'It is more than likely that the whole area will be empty by the end of the mandate, leaving Hagana free to come in disguised as the protectors of Arab property and making a great show of inviting the Arabs home again to live happily ever after,' Lt Col Norman predicted. Haganah fighters in action behind barricade of crumbled Old City walls opposite Jordan's Arab Legion in 1948 He described how the Arab military and civil leaders 'left as soon as they had got the measure of their opponents' in the Battle of Jaffa. Lt Col Norman also dismissed hopes of a ceasefire being maintained in Jerusalem without an armed third party to enforce it. He warned: 'Temptations are many and discipline almost non-existent.' Britain planned to terminate its Palestine mandate on May 15 1948 but the Arab-Israeli War broke out before this took place.