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The Jewish state...”

Weizmann said: “He spoke to Truman about the many projects the Jews would undertake in the Negev, such as opening a canal from Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea parallel to the Suez Canal, expanding the port of Aqaba and making it suitable for receiving and passing large ships...” Weizmann added: “He was very happy when he saw Truman return to the map and study it attentively, then tell Weizmann that he would contact the American delegation at Lake Success about the matter. Weizmann said that that afternoon Ambassador Herschel Johnson, head of the American delegation at the United Nations, and his colleague General Hildering came to visit ‘Shertok,’ Israel’s foreign minister and head of its delegation at the United Nations, and to convey the American delegation’s view concerning the division of the Negev between the Arabs and Jews and making Aqaba the Arabs’ share. At that moment, however, Truman telephoned Johnson for half an hour and asked him to ensure that Aqaba and the entire Negev would remain the share of the Jewish state.”

Weizmann added: “Thus the American decision opened the way for a vote on the partition plan in the General Assembly on 29 November 1947, and it won by 33 votes to 12 (1).”

Thus it appeared that Truman, like the other American presidents who had held office since the Balfour Declaration, worked for the Jews more than he worked for America. It is one of the strange contradictions that the English word “Truman” means “a man of truth” or “an honest man.” Was Truman, in his position on the Palestine question, a man of truth and honesty?

For this occasion, and to complete this subject, I consider it appropriate to reproduce here the text of the memorandum sent by King Abd al-Aziz Al Saud to Truman concerning Palestine, defending the right of the Arabs and Muslims to it and expressing his great astonishment at Truman’s statement supporting the Jews’ position, their blatant aggression, their tyranny, and their immigration to Palestine. In doing so, Truman contradicted the earlier American pledges and promises confirmed by the statement broadcast by the White House on 16 August 1946. I will follow King Abd al-Aziz’s memorandum with Truman’s reply, because publishing both demonstrates clearly Truman’s contradiction and retreat from his earlier position, as his predecessor Roosevelt had done: