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procrastination over it. He told me that he knew the English were determined to thwart the project, which led him to make his utmost effort at the final meeting to persuade all the delegates to sign. He warned them that if they did not sign the Protocol at that session, they would never sign it and the Arab League would never be established. He told them, “I know what you do not know.”

The day after the Protocol was signed, an incident occurred that had a major impact in the world: three Arab governments fell on that day. Mustafa al-Nahhas’s government was dismissed, Saadallah al-Jabiri’s government in Syria resigned, and Hamdi al-Bajaji’s government in Iraq resigned.

Thus the extent of British control over the Arab states at that time was proven...

The Arab League and the Palestine question:

The Arab League Council met in Beirut on 7 October 1947, shortly before the United Nations resolution partitioning Palestine was issued. The Arab Higher Committee sent representatives to that session, Professors Muhammad Izzat Darwaza, Muin al-Madi, and Emil al-Ghuri. During that session, the League Council decided to form a “technical committee” of military men: Ismail Safwat (Iraq), Mahmud al-Hindi (Syria), Shawkat Shuqayr (Lebanon), Bahjat Tabara (Transjordan), and Subhi al-Khadra (Palestine). The committee established its office in Qudsaya, a suburb of Damascus. The Syrian government entrusted Lieutenant General Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq) with supervising enlistment, training, and equipment, and a training camp was established at Qatana near Damascus, containing a large number of Palestinian volunteers and some from neighboring Arab countries. A military school was established at Qatana to train the Palestinians. (1)

In addition to its offices in Cairo, the Arab Higher Committee established other offices in Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, and London. These offices began their work as effectively as possible in handling political affairs and the affairs of jihad and preparing the Palestinian people for the struggle. The Jerusalem office consisted of Mr. Ahmad Hilmi Abd al-Baqi and men

(1) The military school at Qatana: It was established at the beginning of 1948 in the camps of the town of Qatana. Sixty-five officer candidates and a number of non-commissioned officers graduated from it. Its administration was entrusted to Palestinian officers who had graduated from the British Army, headed by Staff Captain Hazim Mahmud al-Khalidi, assisted by First Lieutenant Wajih al-Madani, the first commander of the Palestinian Liberation Army, with the rank of major general, in 1965.