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Saudi Arabia Replies to U.N. Call for Truce; Demands Halting of Immigration to Israel

May 26, 1948
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Saudi Arabia today demanded that the U.N. halt all Jewish immigration as a pre-condition of eventual Arab compliance with the Security Council’s cease-fire request. “The attitude of the Saudi Arabian Government is exactly the same as that of the Arab League,” a message to the Security Council declared.

No word has yet been received here by Faris el Khouri of Syria, who has been designated by the Arab League to give its answer to the Security Council cease-fire order, about the decision supposedly taken at Amman this morning by the Arab Foreign Ministers. He predicted that the Arabs would refuse to heed the order. The Saudi Arabian communication also stated that Ibn Saud’s desert kingdom would cooperate with Count Folke Bernadotte, the U.N. mediator, if his efforts were directed towards setting up a unitary state.

While the United Nations marked time today, awaiting the replies from the Arab states which are due by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, speculation here centered on a private luncheon meeting at which Sen. Warren Austin played host to Secretary of State George C. Marshall. Other guests were Alexandre Parodi, Council president, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie and Assistant Secretary-General Byron Price.

From Jerusalem, Lie today received an urgent appeal for “immediate intervention” to spare what is left of the Holy places and the Jewish community. The appeal came from Isaac Herzog and Ben Zion Uziel, Chief Rabbis of Israel, and Joseph Dushinsky, Chief Rebbi of the Agudas Israel Organization.

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