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and strongly responded to Mr. Bevin’s statement, focusing on rejection of Jewish immigration and upholding the basic national demands for Palestine’s independence and the end of the Mandate.

The statement included the following: “The continuation of Jewish immigration is profoundly unjust to the rights and interests of the Palestinian Arab people. It violates Britain’s official policy, to which it committed itself, not to resume Jewish immigration except with Arab consent. The Arabs have continued to reject Jewish immigration into their country, and today they reaffirm their refusal to consent to any Jewish immigration.”

The statement condemned the sending of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. It said that Palestine was tired of the policy of sending committees of inquiry, did not welcome the dispatch of a new committee, and that the Palestinian Arab people “recognize no right of any foreign people or foreign state to determine their destiny, and reject having their legitimate interests and rights and just demands made the subject of international examination, inquiry, and bargaining...”

At that time King Abd al-Aziz Al Saud visited Egypt. The Palestinians took advantage of the opportunity, and a delegation came to visit him and present their grievances. They complained to him of Britain’s treachery and breach of its commitments. He assured them that he would do everything in his power for Palestine and to preserve its Arab character. After the visit ended, a joint statement was issued supporting Palestine and affirming that its people, and Muslims and Arabs, had the right for it to remain Arab and independent.

But the British government stubbornly continued in its error. It issued new immigration certificates for Jewish immigrants and appointed the joint committee of inquiry with America, consisting of twelve members equally divided between the two countries. The committee began its work in America by hearing testimony from Jews and some supporters of the Arabs in America. It then went to London, where it heard testimony from representatives of the Arab states at the United Nations, which was meeting at that time, and from Jews and their British and other supporters. It then visited Palestine and Jordan, and a group of its members went to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

The Arabs’ statements and testimony were very strong in every place the committee visited in the Arab East, especially those of the Arab heads of state whose evidence the committee heard in private sessions. But what was the use of all that if the judge was both the opposing party and the judge?

The committee issued its report on 20 April 1946. It supported the policy of the White