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through its Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, to the Council of the League of Nations. Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Wasif Ghali (Pasha), rose to oppose the proposal vigorously and made a magnificent defense of the Palestine cause and the rights of its people, stressing Egypt’s keen concern for it because of the many ties linking Egypt with Palestine. He was followed by Sayyid Tawfiq al-Suwaydi, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, who strongly opposed the proposal. Foroughi Khan, Iran’s Foreign Minister, and the representatives of Afghanistan, Albania and Ireland then opposed it as well.

Ireland was represented at the time by its famous Prime Minister, “de Valera.” When I telegraphed him to thank him for his honorable and independent stand, he replied with a telegram stating: “Partition is the most atrocious of means and the most hideous of weapons with which colonialism tears apart the hearts of oppressed peoples.”

Among the important events of this period was the Arab Bludan Congress, held on September 8, 1937. The congress convened under the presidency of Naji Pasha al-Suwaydi, and Emir Shakib Arslan and Muhammad Ali Alluba were elected vice-presidents. Four hundred and fifty members, drawn from the leading men of the Arab nation, took part and resolved: “Palestine is an inseparable part of the Arab homeland, and all Arabs reject the partition plan and the establishment of a Jewish state in it...” The participants then adopted a covenant to which they swore while standing with magnificent enthusiasm. It stated: “The participants swear and pledge before God, history, and the Arab and Islamic peoples that they will continue the struggle until Palestine is saved.”

These events and others like them supported the Palestinians in their rejection of partition, strengthened their determination to struggle, and paved the way for resuming their revolt against colonialism and injustice. Britain, for its part, was determined to persist in its oppressive course and began acts of violence and severity, starting with the arrest of a large number of patriots. It became more violent after the killing of Mr. “Andrews” (1), governor of the Galilee district, one of the English governors who had tyrannized the country. Some Palestinian fedayeen had opened fire on him in the city of “Nazareth” and killed him.

The British authority then dissolved the Palestinian national committees and arrested many of their members. It subsequently dissolved the Arab Higher Committee, arrested those of its members it could, and transported them to the “Seychelles”: the gentlemen Ahmad Hilmi Pasha, Dr. Husayn al-Khalidi, Yaqub al-Ghusayn and Fuad Saba, along with Sayyid Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim, who was not a member;

(1) On September 26, 1937, unidentified persons killed Andrews, governor of Galilee, and his escort in Nazareth.