A delegation of diplomatic representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, headed by Mahmoud Hassan Pasha, Egyptian Minister in the United States, today called on the State Department and conferred with Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Loy Henderson, head of the Middle East Division of the department.
At a press conference arranged for the representatives of the four Arab countries at the Egyptian Legation, Hassan said that the delegation called on the State Department as representatives of the Arab League. He revealed that they discussed, among other things, the question of Palestine, but denied that there had been any discussion of President Truman’s letter to Prime Minister Attlee asking for the admission of 100,000 Jews to Palestine.
The Egyptian Minister told the press conference that the Arab League was perturbed by the recent suggestions of a change in the status of Palestine. Asked whether the league would oppose the recent proposal of admitting 1,500 Jews monthly, Hassan said questions of detail had not been discussed and that they had not been asked any detailed questions by Acheson. He said they might call at the State Department again in a few days.
The league has opened an “Arab Office” in Washington to campaign in the U.S. against the Zionist movement. In its first statement today, it sharply attacked proposals for opening Palestine’s gates. The statement said that “the Arab world insists on the immediate establishment of a democratic Arab state based on the will of all the inhabitants of Palestine.”
Peter Bergson, of the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation, today made public the text of a letter to the Earl of Halifax, British Ambassador in Washington, charging that a campaign of incitement has begun in Palestine similar to those which preceded the bloody disturbances of 1929 and 1936. He charged that the campaign was being instigated by agents provocateurs, and that among the handful of Arab extremists who are adherents of the Mufti the feeling prevails “that attacks on Hebrews will have official sanotion.”
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