MUFTI’S DEPARTURE FROM FRANCE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24899, 12 June 1946, Page 7

MUFTI’S DEPARTURE FROM FRANCE

Britain Investigating

APPEARANCE AT SCENE OF ARAB MEETING FORECAST

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, June 11. The British Government was investigating the circumstances under which the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem left France, said a Foreign Office spokesman yesterday.

The French Government was stated to be aware of Britain’s wish that the Grand Mufti should not return to the

Middle East. A high French official responsible for the control of aliens has been suspended, following the Grand Mufti s departure, according to the Paris correspondent of the “Daily Express.” The Associated Press correspondent in Damascus says it is thought likely that the Grand Mufti will appear near Bludan, a village near Damascus, where 30 delegates to the Arab League Council are discussing Palestine. The Grand Mufti was last seen in Paris on June 1. The French Foreign Minister (M. Bidault) was the first to give the British Government offi-

cial information of the Grand Mufti’s departure when he informed the British Ambassador (Mr A. Duff Cooper) at a garden party on Saturday. The French authorities have ? inc * assured the British Government that the Grand Mufti did not leave France through any land frontier.