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Nasser Challenges Iraq to Send Troops to Syria to Fight Israel

February 17, 1960
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President Nasser of the United Arab Republic today questioned the sincerity of Iraqi Premier Abdul Kassem on the Palestine issue. He challenged Kassem to dispatch Iraqi troops to fight against Israel on the Syrian-Israeli border where recent shootings have taken place.

Nasser threw down the challenge in a speech in the Syrian town of Derezzor, 60 miles from the Iraqi frontier. “If Kassem is sincere about the Palestine cause I invite him to send the Iraqi army to stand side by side with the UAR 1st (Syrian) Army against Israel on the Syrian frontier,” Nasser told a cheering audience.

Agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian Arab delegation to the United Nations and admission of “Palestine” to the Arab League was reached at the current meeting of the Arab League Council in Cairo, Abdel Khalek Hassouna, Secretary General of the Arab League, was reported here today to have announced.

Proposals have also been formulated for the formation of a Palestine National Council and the drawing up of a Palestine charter, the report from Cairo said, adding that Jordan Foreign Minister, Moussa Nasser, was scheduled to fly today to Amman, the Jordan capital, to consult with King Hussein on the proposals. A plenary session of the Arab League Council will be held when he returns to Cairo.

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