Arabs Prepare for London Parleys; Moderates Favor Retaining Balfour Declaration

The forthcoming London conferences may become Pan-Arab in scope, with Great Britain and France cooperating to stabilize conditions in the Near East, some sources said today. Non-Palestinian Arabs are planning to send important delegations to the parley, at which Anglo-French collaboration may be pledged in all the mandated states of the Near East together with promises to the Arabs of British and French help in achieving all their objectives.

At the same time Britain will attempt to convince the Arabs that with their wider interests thus guaranteed there is no reason why the Balfour Declaration should not remain in effect.

Indicative of the extending scope of the parleys is the ferment of political activity prevailing both in Palestine and its neighbor countries. Iraq will probably send as its delegate Nuri Pasha es-Said. The Premier of Trans-jordan, Tewfik Pasha Abulhuda, has already fixed Dec. 30 as the date for his departure for London. Emir Feisal, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, will represent King Ibn Saud.

In Syria the Supreme Arab Committee is still deliberating as to whether it shall participate in the conference in the name of the exiled ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el Husseini, and the Palestine Arab nationalists. No decision will be taken until arrival of the high Arab leaders now returning from exile in the Seychelles Islands. The moderate Arab parties, one led by Ragheb Bey Nashashibi, ex-Mayor of Jerusalem, and the opposition group led by his nephew, Fahkri Bey Nashashibi, also will probably accept the British Government invitation. Indications now are that Britain will achieve its desire of getting together all shades of Arab opinion.

In response to the British Government’s promises that the solutions at the conferences will meet the aspirations of the whole Arab world, and its claim that it is up to all the Arabs to present a reasonable plan, Arab States surrounding Palestine probably will agree to assume their responsibilities. Emir Feisal may argue for compromise proposals, supported by the Arab leaders of Iraq and Egypt. The Mufti, participating directly or indirectly, may find his radical tendencies curbed when confronted with wider issues involving understanding among all the Moslem peoples.

Certain proposals already put forward are said to have met with favorable approval from the moderate Arabs, the Nashashibi group, Emir Feisal, Nuri Pasha and Emir Abdullah of Transjordan. The proposals call for an understanding between Britain and the Arab world and ask for an end to the Arab policy of violence in Palestine. They are said also to call for Anglo-French collaboration in all the mandated states of the Near East, aid to the Arabs in achieving their various objectives and maintaining of the Balfour Declaration.