Iraqi Government Reiterates Objections in Message to Wallace, Rayburn

The Iraqi Government today followed up its protest against the Palestine resolution, sent to Senator Wagner this past week, by informing both Vice President Wallace, as presiding officer of the Senate, and Speaker Sam Rayburn of the House that passage of the resolution “will be tantamount to a request that the United States declare war on the Arabs of Palestine.”

“We understand,” the message states, “that a resolution has been introduced in your House calling upon the United States Government to intervene and to take action necessary to secure the opening of the doors of Palestine to unrestricted Jewish immigration and to give them full opportunity to colonize it so that Palestine may ultimately become an independent democratic Jewish State. We do not know if you realize that this is tantamount to a request that the United States of America declare war on the Arabs of Palestine, who have never committed any act of aggression against the United States of America, nor against any of its citizens.

“In 1918 there were in Palestine 800,000 Arabs (Moslem and Christian) and 80,000 Jews. In 1939 the Jews, through assisted and subsidized immigration, totaled over 350,000 and the Arabs 1,000,000. For three years from 1936 to 1939 the Arabs of Palestine, totally unaided, fought with out-of-date weapons bitter and bloody war against the usurping Jews and the British Government, which had brought them to Palestine against the will of the Arab inhabitants. The Arabs of Palestine are now muzzled. They can make no protest against this monstrous demand. The Arabs of Iraq cannot, however, remain silent. We must let you know in the clearest possible words the full implications of this demand; they are (1) elimination from Palestine of 1,000,000 Arabs, (2) the consequent hostility to the United States of America of every Arab throughout Asia and Africa, (3) the handing over of all the holy places of the Moslems and Christians to the Jews.

“It is generally recognized that few Jews would migrate to Palestine if they could find an asylum in the United States of America. Taking advantage of the refusal of the United States to admit more than a small proportion of these refugees, the Zionists have raised the cry, ‘Palestine for the Jews,’ and pretended that every refugee Jews wanted to settle in Palestine and establish a Jewish State there. We cannot believe that the responsible body over whom you preside seriously contemplates the undertaking by the United States of such a dangerous policy. The proposers of this resolution may, of course, have had quite different objects in mind of which we have no knowledge, but whatever their motives we feel that you should realize how seriously even the introduction of such a resolution is taken in the whole Arab world. If the United States does intervene in the manner suggested by this resolution it will read like a sentence of death to the Arabs in Palestine and cause despair and distrust throughout the Arab and Moslem worlds. We beg you to use your influence to have the proposed resolution withdrawn. Already it is being utilized by Nazi propagandists to inflame Arab opinion not only against the Jews but against the democratic powers.”