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their colonization and provoking hatred and hostility between the inhabitants and their rulers. A province or region whose inhabitants were mostly Muslim would be assigned a Hindu ruler, as in Kashmir, while one whose inhabitants were mostly Hindu would be assigned a Muslim ruler, as they did in Hyderabad, so that hatred and disagreement would remain between the shepherd and the flock and both sides would turn to the English masters in every disaster and calamity.

Palestine felt the need for unity and for an association bringing together the Arabs of their various countries before any of the other Arab countries, because of the dangerous situation it faced from the conspiracy of the British Empire and world Jewry against it, joined by the other colonial powers that supported the Jews, foremost among them the United States of America. The Palestinians felt this and demanded unity with Syria. They called Palestine “Southern Syria” and declared before the American Commission of Inquiry that visited Palestine in 1919, known as the King-Crane Commission, that they demanded union with Syria. That year, a newspaper called Southern Syria was published in Jerusalem. In 1927, we published a newspaper in Jerusalem called The Arab League, eighteen years before the Arab League came into existence. We then published The Unity in Jerusalem, The Island in Jaffa, and other newspapers.

The Palestinian National Charter drawn up in 1922 provided for Palestine’s independence within Arab unity. The Arab Palestinian Party likewise made Arab unity a basic objective in its constitution, drawn up in 1935. The question of unity was, and remains, a basic objective on which Palestinian national policy was founded, was approved by all the Palestinian conferences, and was proclaimed by the Palestinian delegations sent to the Arab, Islamic, and foreign countries. Palestinian representatives openly stated it before various British and international committees.

In 1937, we formed a delegation, of which I was a member, including Professor Muhammad Izzat Darwaza, Mr. Riad al-Sulh, and Shaykh Kamil al-Qassab, may they rest in mercy, to Mecca. There we met the late King Abd al-Aziz and laid the foundations for Arab unity. He approved them and charged me with consulting the Iraqi officials about the matter.

A decade before these events, we had considered establishing cultural unity among the peoples of the Arab countries, since political unity was not feasible, so that cultural unity could prepare the way for it