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On 24 December 1947, in my capacity as head of the Arab Higher Committee of Palestine, I issued Communiqué No. 6 to the commanders of the fighters, requiring all fighters to be warned against attacking religious sites, killing women and children, or mistreating foreign communities and political bodies, institutions, their offices, and property.

Then, on 25 March 1948, I issued another statement emphasizing the protection of holy sites, religious places, and humanitarian institutions and the need not to harm children, women, or civilians, despite the terrible crimes and acts devoid of the slightest connection to mercy or humanity committed by our Zionist enemies.

Arab Higher Committee of Palestine

al-Kamal Street, Heliopolis, Cairo

Statement

In this critical circumstance through which the cause of the Arabs of Palestine is passing, as they carry on their present struggle for freedom and independence, I wish to declare to the civilized world, in my capacity as head of the Arab Higher Committee representing the Palestinian Arab people, the honorable principles for which we struggle, turning away from the malicious and misleading propaganda spread by the Zionists and their supporters to distort our blessed national struggle.

• The Arabs of Palestine have carried the burden of their independence movement for thirty years and continue to struggle for it. Their aim is to establish an independent state in which all the country’s original inhabitants enjoy civil and religious freedom and exercise their rights fully. In demanding this, the Palestinian Arabs are realizing a principle affirmed by the Charter of the United Nations and its high principles, through independence according to the right of self-determination.

• The Palestinian Arabs, Muslims and Christians, publicly declare, as guardians and custodians of the holy places for long ages, that they will preserve the sanctity of these places while leaving complete freedom to all communities in their religious affairs. On this occasion I appeal to the struggling Palestinian Arab people, with its glorious history, to prove anew its honorable inherited traditions by preserving the holy places and protecting them from every violation and assault.