Jewish Leaders in Palestine Ignore “war Declaration” of Arab Spokesman

The “declaration of war” against the Jews issued this week by Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, the Arab nationalist leader, which was prominently featured in the Arab press in Palestine, is not taken seriously by the Jews of Palestine. The Hebrew press today emphasizes that Jewish leaders do not intend to pay any attention to Auni Abdul Hadi since the Palestine question will be solved neither by Jews nor by Arabs, but by the democratic world. Some of the Hebrew newspapers question whether Auni Abdul Hadi can speak for “all the Arabs” as he does in his “declaration.”

“The statement by Auni Bey Abdul Hadi does not surprise us,” the Hebrew paper Haaretz writes today. “He has returned to Palestine after four year’s absence, as he left, without learning anything. (The Arab leader fled the country in 1937 when a warrant for his arrest was issued in connection with the anti-British and anti-Jewish riots in Palestine. He did not return until the Palestine Government declared an amnesty for several of the nationalist leaders.) Even four years of war which have driven the best sons of humanity to seek a better and juster post-war world has not affected him. We regret it. We think, however, that the world will continue to seek a solution to the Palestine problem.”

The question of “who empowered Auni to speak on behalf of not only Palestinian, but all Arabs,” is voiced today in the Hebrew paper Haboker. “As far as we know,” the paper writes, “no Arab organization has empowered him to make any such statements. But we aren’t going to scrutinize his credentials because the Hebrew press does not publish statements against the Arabs and their leaders. We have our dispute with the Palestine Government in connection with post-war reconstruction and are not interested in debating with any Arab who pretends to be a leader.”