Page 41

and Wilson, Ritchie and others. Britain brought from India one of its renowned experts in suppressing and combating revolts, “Sir Tegart.” He recommended building military forts throughout Palestine and closing the borders between Palestine and Syria, Lebanon and Transjordan with a barrier of barbed wire and mines. But the mujahidin performed a great deed by uprooting this barrier and removing the obstacle that stood in the way of their contact with their fellow mujahidin in Syria and Lebanon.

The revolt spread from Palestine to Transjordan, where a number of English officers and soldiers were killed in battles near Irbid and Ajlun. A number of Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese and Egyptians volunteered and joined the jihad movement alongside their Palestinian brothers. Great sympathy for the Palestinian revolt began to appear in Egypt, clearly reflected in its newspapers, in meetings held by associations and clubs, and in a memorandum signed by one hundred and seventy members of the Egyptian parliament from different parties condemning British injustices against the people of Palestine.

Finally, this sympathy was also reflected in the convening of the Parliamentary Congress in Egypt, called by an Egyptian parliamentary committee chaired by the late Professor Muhammad Ali Alluba Pasha, may God forgive him. It was attended by representatives of the following Arab and Islamic countries and communities: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, India, Morocco, Yemen, Palestine, the Muslims of Yugoslavia, and Arab emigrants in America. The congress resolved to support the Palestine National Covenant, reject the Mandate and the Jewish national home, condemn the partition of Palestine and the injustices Britain was committing against Palestine’s Arab people to force them into submission, and glorify this people engaged in jihad. The congress also resolved to send a delegation to London to inform the English of its decisions. The delegation was chaired by Professor Muhammad Ali Alluba and included the two gentlemen Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and Abd al-Rahman Siddiqi, two of the most prominent figures among India’s Muslims.

This was followed by the convening of the Arab Women’s Congress in Cairo, which undertook commendable work for Palestine and declared its condemnation of British injustices and the oppressive policy Britain was pursuing in Palestine, and its support for and glorification of the Palestinian Arab people’s jihad.

The Egyptian government, headed by the late Muhammad Mahmud Pasha, may God forgive him, then began to show great concern for the Palestine question and declared this in the Egyptian parliament. It also made several contacts with the British government and Arab governments concerning it.