Arab League

The activities of the Arab League during the period under review centered around the question of Palestine.Following its previous stand in support of Palestinian Arabs, the Political Com-mittee of the League decided on April 17, 1947 to oppose the idea of the creation of a new committee of inquiry by the United Nations, and to support the inclusion on the agenda of the first special session of the General Assembly of an item on the abro-gation of the mandate and proclamation of Palestine's independence. It expressed the view that, in any event, terms of reference of any established inquiry committee should include the questions mentioned above. Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the League, stated on May 29, 1947, that a decision on the League's position regarding the question of cooperation with the United Nations’ committee of inquiry would be made at the seven member Conference of Foreign Ministers at Cairo in June, 1947. He emphasized that the Arab League was not concerned with Palestine alone, but also with 20,000,000 Arabs in French North Africa, and the problems of Libya and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. No action however, was taken by the Arab League in June, and a rift among Arabs over the Palestine question became evident when the Palestine Arab Higher Committee decided to boycott the inquiry commission. In a news conference on June 19, Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha stated that the Arab League, representing all independent Arab states and about 45,000,000 persons, was giving full support to Palestine independence, and that the League was cooperating with the Special Committee on Palestine despite the boycott by the Arab Higher Committee.