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After that delegation returned, we formed a delegation to visit Syria, in which I was accompanied by the gentlemen Hasan Abu al-Suʿud, Muhammad Ishaq Darwish and Muhammad al-Afifi. We met the President of the Republic, Sayyid Hashim al-Atasi, and the leading figures of the new Syrian state that had taken power following the treaty of (1936). We did not remain long in Syria, for disturbing news reached us from Palestine indicating that Britain had stubbornly resolved on its course, that it would begin adopting measures of severity and violence, suppress every national movement by force and silence every murmur of liberation, and that it had begun arresting Palestinian mujahidin. We hastened back to Palestine to confront this aggressive colonialist stance. The British authorities were surprised by our return, having thought that we had seized the opportunity to save ourselves from their vengeance. A period of time passed during which the English exerted their utmost efforts at bargaining and inducement, resorting to many means and intermediaries.

When they failed to influence us through inducements and promises, they resorted to threats and intimidation. The director of British military intelligence at the time, Mr. “Domville,” sent me several oral messages through a few of his friends and intermediaries. The last was a message in which he said: “For the sake of their interests and the interests of the Empire, the English will do anything. They strike ruthlessly and kill, and do not shrink from committing any act. I therefore advise you not to be obstinate, and to spare yourself and those with you.”

When they also despaired of achieving anything through intimidation and threats, they resolved to adopt a new course of violence and repression. The British and Jewish newspapers and some other newspapers loyal to them foreshadowed this. The London Times, closely connected with British official circles, took the initiative by publishing an article dated July 16, 1937 CE, which stated: “The Mufti is the formidable obstacle to every solution of the problem and any understanding with the Jews. Were it not for fear of him, many moderates with whom an understanding could be reached would emerge. The British government must therefore not leave him alone, but liquidate him, remove him from the presidency of the Supreme Islamic Council, and strike ruthlessly at him and the rigid, obstinate group of extremists...”

This Times article was a warning that called me to be cautious and to expect evil from the English soon. Indeed, what I had expected was not long in coming. The British authority surprised us by storming the headquarters of the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine in Jerusalem on (July 17, 1937), at five o’clock in the afternoon, while it was holding a meeting attended by all its members and I was presiding. A large force of British police surrounded the building after blocking the entrances to