Attacks on Zionism and prophecies of a “United States of Arabia” were voiced last night at a dinner of the Arab National League at the Town Hall Club in honor of Ameen Rihani, Arab Nationalist and confidant of King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.
The speakers included Prof. William Ernest Hocking, of Harvard; Faris S. Malouf, Boston Street Commissioner; Izzat Tannous, member of the Arab Supreme Committee, and Dr. Fuad I. Shatana, president of the league, who presided. Several of the speeches were broadcast by WNYC the city-owned station.
Mr. Rihani, who has just completed a nation-wide lecture tour sponsored by the Institute of International Education, spoke of “the yoke of the Balfour Declaration and the mandate” and foresaw a federation of Arab states, including Palestine.
He denounced plans for cantonizing Palestine as springing from Great Britain’s “divide and rule” policy and called it “the flimsiest of all expediencies and most fantastic of exploitations.” He denied that Italy was extending material aid to the Arab nationalism movement.
Mr. Rihani said that the Palestine Arabs “will accept the status quo” of a Jewish community and even aid this community if the three Arab demands, including cessation of Jewish immigration, were complied with. He suggested establishment of a Jewish homeland in the United States, mentioning Texas as a possibility.
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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.
