SPECIAL ARAB COMMITTEE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24902, 15 June 1946, Page 7

SPECIAL ARAB COMMITTEE

GUARD FOR FUTURE OF PALESTINE

LEAGUE COUNCIL’S PROPOSAL (N.Z. Pres. Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 10 p.rn.), LONDON, June 13, The establishment of a committee of representatives of the seven Arab States to guard the future of Palestine, and the tightening of the boycott on Jewish goods, were among decisions reached at the meeting of the council of the Arab League. They were announced to-day by the Secretary-Gen-eral of the League (Azzam Bey). He said some other decisions had necessarily to be kept secret. Azzam Bey added that the council had decided to recommend to the League that the Arab Governments do all in their power to secure the independence of Libya. It had also recommended that the League should press for the disarming of terrorists, and should issue special stamps to raise money for Palestine.

Reuter’s correspondent in Paris says that both the Left wing and Right wing organs regard the escape of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem as a threat to the peace in the Middle East. The Paris moderate newspaper “Le Matin” suggests that the French Government made a scapegoat of the police chief, M. Desvaux, who wastemoved from office following the escape of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from France. The newspaper says that the President or the Foreign Office, last October, instructed the police that the Grand Mufti was to be given complete liberty. The Damascus newspaper “Alwahda El Arabia,” quoting a reliable source, reports that the Grand Mufti is staying in Damascus at the “home of a high personality," where he is safe and under protection. “The Arabs in Palestine are celebrating the supposed return of the Grand Mufti, while Palestine is officially celebrating the King’s Birthday,” says the Exchange Telegraph Agency’s correspondent in Jerusalem. “The Old City of Jerusalem resounds to loudspeakers blaring Arab music, and cafe owners are even providing free coffee to Arabs with veiled women marching through the streets singing and rejoicing. All Arab vehicles are carrying garlands of flowers."