The first official step by Arab delegations here to proclaim Palestine as an Arab state was made today when the delegations of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Lebanon submitted to the conference’s Commission on the Security Council and to its Sub-Committee on Regional Arrangements the pact of the League of Arab Nations with its appendix which seeks to classify Palestine as one of the Arab counties participating in the League.
The step was made in connection with afforts of the Arab delegations to secure the UNCIO’s recognition of the Pan-Arab League as the regional power in the Middle East. In this connection, the Arab delegations, led by Egypt, are closely watching the campaign of the Latin American bloc to secure approval of regional arrangements, A joint dinner for the Arab and Latin American delegations was tendered here last night by a group calling itself "Races of America United."
Jewish Leaders here take the attitude that by seeking to classify Palestine as an Arab state the charter of the League of Arab Nations ignores the special position of Palestine under the League of Nations mandate and the international covenant providing for establishment there of a Jewish national home. They also point out that it is significant that one of the first public acts of the Arab League has been to send a communication to President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill demanding termination of the Palestine mandate and establishment of Palestine as an Arab state.
The Arab campaign on regional arrangements is meeting with opposition from many quarters which argue that from the point of view of promoting regional security the machinery of the Arab League is entirely worthless, Moreover, the military weakness of the Arab states, whether individually or as a group, makes setting up of an Arab bloc as a seperate security organization, isolated from world system, a factor of insecurity rather than security, and one likely to invite rather than doter aggression.
It is also pointed out that among the members of the Arab League are nonmembers of the United Nations such as Yemen and Trans-Jordan, and that while the purpose of the UNCIO is to create machinery for maintaining international peace and security, the irredentist aim of the Arab League is essentially disruptive and must inevitably lead to friction and conflict.
Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand, who heads the Trusteeship Committee, told a press conference yesterday that Palestine will not be discussed here since specific territories will not be dealt with. He gave assurances, however, that the status of Palestine, or any other mandate, would not be changed without consulting the territory’s inhabitants. Zionist leaders, meanwhile, were given to understand that the trusteeship system will be formulated in such a way that Jewish rights in Palestine will not be prejudiced.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
