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Arab Higher Committee of Palestine

Correspondence Office, Cairo Date: 2 Jumada I 1367 (13 March 1948) No. 865 File No. A/322 Department: General Affairs

To the respected dear brother, Mr. Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim, head of the National Committee, Haifa.

Peace, God’s mercy, and His blessings be upon you. We have received your letter dated 3 March 1948, detailing the efforts undertaken by His Eminence Archbishop Hakim in Syria and Lebanon to shelter families displaced from some Palestinian cities and provide them with the necessary food and lodging.

We appreciate the feeling that moved His Eminence the Archbishop to undertake this humanitarian effort. We also greatly appreciate the gracious sympathy that moved Their Excellencies the presidents of the Syrian and Lebanese republics to answer his request. But we fear that the displacement of families from Palestine outside it may weaken the morale of our struggling nation. Therefore we believe it is better in this matter to seek to move whatever families urgently need to be moved from places of extreme danger to safe places in the inland Palestinian cities and villages. In this way the country will preserve its good reputation and morale will remain strong and sound.

May God preserve and care for you. Peace, God’s mercy, and His blessings be upon you.

Head of the Arab Higher Committee (signature)

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