British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume I - Page 85

CHAPTER II.

(c) A commission representing the States members of the Arab League will be instituted to co-ordinate and supervise the execution of these resolutions end to study any suggestions to repel the danger of Zionist economy".

These resolutions were announced by the Secretary General of the League on 3rd December. The boycott was put into force by decrees and official announcements issued by the Governments of Iraq, Egypt, the Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia at the end of December or early in January. On 11th January, 1946, the Palestine Government issued the following official communiqué :-

"Official notification has now been received by the Palestine Government to the effect that certain States in the Middle East have taken action designed to exclude from their territories imports from Palestine. The measures are directed in particular at goods manufactured or produced by the Jewish community in Palestine. It is clear that this is a measure of immediate concern to the Mandatory Power which is responsible. under the provisions of the Mandate, for the well-being of a.11 peoples in Palestine. The High Commissioner is accordingly in consultation with the Secretary of State for the Colonies in regard to the next steps to be taken".

5th December, 1945.

The Secretary General of the Arab League transmitted to His Majesty's Government a reply on behalf of the Arab States to The communication of 15th November. The reply was not a definite refusal of His Majesty's Government's proposal that there should be a monthly quota of 1,500 immigrants until the Anglo-American Committee reported, but it contained a statement that the Arab League did not know on what basis the figure mentioned was formulated nor was it clear what contributions the United States or the British Empire proposed to make. It went on to say that the Arab League, failing to understand the full reasons of the proposal, feared that it was made as a result of Zionist political pressure in Great Britain and another friendly country and that, if that was so, it was the more a reason for refusal to consent to a new immigration than to accept it.

10th December, 1945.

The names of the members of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry were announced simultaneously in Washington and London.

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