Prow

so. of Pages: B•B=

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Report No:RLB■2094 Local Pile No:

No. of linclosure.: Iona

Distribution:By Copy to: ishingtow lo-ons

Two Moro Lettora from GHURIto the Grand Mufti

Thu. letters Intro

similar to those dosoribed on the °over sheet

of ELB-2078.

11? 1*

Classification

cTcalaoL.MN NCIMO 1111141

'D Off

Report Nada Br: c: Approved B

31 oral), to:

ISIS P Subjsot

Bouros Cr/atoms: Refermms: deo report

Boman, Operational Data, and Commits:

MOO-11114f-tma

oosowiessatuENE

DECLASSIFI ED AND R ELEASED BYCENTRAL INTELL 'BENCE AGENCYSOURCES METHO DSEXEMPT ION 38213NAZI WAR CR IMES DI SCLOSURE ACTDATE 2008

.S7Ctt

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Subject s Two More Letters from Report Nuaber t EL-2094GHURI to the Grand Mufti

Place Date ofAcquired : Beirut, Lebanon Information :

Evaluation: Documentary Date Acquired

Source C Date of Report:

Current

As Indicated

20 Aug 1950

iNtuet_ohlt

1.Atie followinpApanalations

,Arab the origi nal Arabic of

to

twoettega fromto

Arab Higher Committee leader in Beirut,thailnd uf-/ - -Cai:

•111At,,,,)61ASO 1950la'. !King IABDRUAH has for gore than a month been bringing

pressure to bear on his government to enter into negotia-tions with the Jews for the conclusion of peace. Thegovernment has tried to avoid this pressure because ofPalestinian public opinion. This has angered the King,eh* has decided to work alone. In speeding up this matterbe has been moved by the Korean war, by his belief thatsuch action will bring him material benefits, and by thenews of the coming of the Conciliation Commiasion toJerusalem.

'The King delegated l Abd-al .Ghani afARAIIAIJ, Atingleader of t4e Divan, to undertake the negotiations withthe Jews. contacted them in Tel Aviv andJerusalem several times and learned from them that theywant peace an the basis of the existing frontiers. Withregard to the subject of the refugees, the Jews expressedreadiness to compensate them.

"In view of the importance of the refugee question --particularly regarding the f :mos themselves --al-BARAMAR agreed with MO that I:RABBIT issuea statement promising the payment of compensation for theproperties of the Arabs. This statement was issued duringthe Id al-Pitr, as you remember, and the Arab newspaperspubllshed it. It was the first statement on the part ofthe Jews promising to compensate the Arabs for theirproperties. It was broadcast by the Ramallah radiostation.

lbt1

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RLB-2094 -- 2 - 20 August 1950

'Undoubtedly SHARETT's statement was rather well receivedby many of those who had begun to believe that the Jewswould never return them to their country or compensatethem for their properties. It may be said that thisstatement revived some of the refugees' hopes. The Kingtook advantage of this new mood of the refugees and pro-ceeded to contaot a number of Palestinians to persuadethem of the necessity of concluding a peace with theJews, pointing out the benefits to then and to theircountry which would accrue from it. The newspaperPalestine, in its editorials, began to call for theWarigni of peace and emergence from the present state.

King depended.jhis efforts and propaganda on Jamaland Ahmed slCRALIL and offioials like thin. He -

also metioularly depended on NUhammad /Ali aMMNIBIHI andWadihJBA INIS, in addition to his dopendenos on hiJordanian followers. The King contacted Sulwith a view to urging him to spread propaganda for peace.But Sulayman, who had received letters threatening hiewith death, excused himself on a pretext of bad healthand left for Lebanon, whore he spent ten days (duringwhich time efforts for peace ended).

te.?1. "The King's propagandists proceeded to urge the people forthe conclusion of peace and to prepare the ground for it.The King invited to his palace many Palestinian senators,deputies, and other leaders, and hinted to them about thequestion of peace. Be regarded their silenoo in hispresence as indicating acceptance of the idea of concludingpeace.

*"-mover, as soon as reports began to circulate among thepeople that the King was intending to make peace, feelingsran bub. A local demonstration was held in Nablus, thedemonstrators shouting slogans against peace and againstthe King. The King arrested many of the demonstratorsand tortured them.

g)t- "Wadih DA IMIS called for the h ding of meetings in BeitJala, Jerusalem andSethi discussing peace, butthe -people stayed away from them.

(4). "On 21 July 1950 a special meeting was held in Beit,Jala• which was attended by Wadih DAIN14,Abd-al-PattahNBARWISH;

'Whammed 'Ali al-JABIRI; Tawfig(BeNFKATTAN, the Deputy;the chief of the municipality of Beit Sahur, and a number 1

(22 SECRET

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.1B-2O94. 3 . 20 August 1950

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of notables from the HebrOn District. /Ina afgaNDAK didnot attend this meeting because he was in disagreementwith DA ,MIS ( the fact that M IKIS is competingwith him in gaining the King's favor allA in serving theimperialists; in fact, DA 'MIS be todayfOloser to theKing than is BANDAK). During this meeting the majority c*.e.ftra,;.of those present rejected the idea of peaoe with the isomm..Strangely enough, lAbd-al-Fatteh DARWISH was the strongestopponent of the project. He strongly disagreed with DAIMIS.Only DA tMIS and al-JABIRI openly supported the projeot.When DA IMIS found that be had failed, he suggested theholding of a big meeting on the following day, but it wasnot held.

4$1, *The King was depending on Anwar alliATIB and his MunicipalCouncil. When he sent Jemal TUQAM tem4hem to urge them totake an interest ia the subject of peso*, and to acceptthe measures in accordance with the proposed term',al-XHATIB refused and frankly proclaimed his stand againstthe conclusion of peace. The King grew any end dismissedal-KHATIB from his office, appointing Arif al-ARIF in his

they all resigned except ALLAH, the Deputy Chief.place. When the members of th oipal Council saw this)

(This Hanna ATALLAH is a lawyer and brother of AntunATALLAH,the lawyer, and is not Dr. Hanna ATALLAH, as mightbe sumfosed).

'In view of the King's inelstence on concluding peace andhis pressure on Sa tid alAMUFTI and the Pvernment toiardthat end, Sa l id al-MUFTI made the statement that thosewhose views should be sought first on the subject are thepeople of Palestine. If they,should indicate that theywould accept peace, then the kovernment would proceed withthe negotiations. On this basis Sa l id al-MUFTI,al-SHARIQI, and al-SHANQ/TI toured Palestine and heldmany meetings in Nablus :main, Tulkarn, Jerusalem,Bethlehelvand Hebron and consulted with the leaders, thenotablekand the youths on the subject of the proposedpesos. All the latter proclaimed their refusal andemphasised their adherence to their rights -- particularlythose who represented the refugees. They unanimouslyrejected any such peace, stating that they would acceptonly such peace as would be based on the PartitionResolution and compensation for the refugees.

SECRET fr

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SE RE'- Cob._ .4B-2094-4- 20 August 1950

((kr. "On 24 July a meeting was held in Jerusalem that wasattended by the Prime,Minister, senators, deputies, otherofficials, a large number of refugee leaders, and theManicipal Council (before the dismissal of Anwar al-SHATIB).This meeting was quite boisterous. DPW'S and al-JABIRIwere most enthusiastic for peace, $o mud: so that al-JABIRImentioned ths annexation and said, 'We, the people ofPalestine, must kiss the feet of the Jordanians and putthen on our heads, because they accepted our annexationto them. , Then a dispute developed -- and this is strange --between him and 0Abd-al-PattabEARWISH, who insisted onrejecting peace except on the basis of the Partition atleast. The rest of the conferees strongly objected to theidea of peace. This attitude causekDA IMIS to address theconferees in the following manner: ?You are talking justas used to talk the leaders of the past thirty years whohave lost our country for us.. He was answered severelyby a number of the conferees, including the chief of themunicipality of Boit Sehur and lAbd-al-Patteh DABWISH,aho said, 'We wish we had listened to them and followedtheir policy.' HAWS then cried out, 'Listen to Whatthese people are saying* By God, this meeting is justlike the meetings the leaders of the Arab Higher Committeeused to hold, when i1 GHURI. the , spoke.' Theclamor then increased and some of the men from Jerusalemanswered him very strongly. Sa l id al-MUFTI was thenobliged to request them to behave reasonably and soberly,and not to attack each other with bad words. DA IMIS thansaid, 'Let them proolaim Hajj Amin King. This, it seems,is the desire of the conferees.' The meeting then ended.upon the request of Ha s id al-MUFTI.

"When the ministerial *Lesion conoluded its tour ofPalestine it returned to 'Amman and the Government decidednot to accept the idea of concluding peace. It submitteda report to this effect to the King, who became angry andcalled them cowards who were afraid for their lives onaccount of the gangsters of the Grand Mufti Hal, Amin.It is reported that the King will dismiss the 6abinet."

..wc . 4 re t e ...

11:67i.ti"119-5-21/"The Arab Bank in 'Amman used to receive from London pay-ments to former Palestinian

, and retirement money) in terlingsmplo ees (awards, oompenaa-

tionspaid this money out in Palestin an currency, thereby

Itourrenoy.

benefiting from the difference in the currencies. It isestimated that the amount whieh the bank gained in thisway has to date amounted to 150,000 guineas.

I V-

fte. tr, a.—

*The -fm.ty concerned learned of this matter and prowdedto wirn and threaten to take measures, etc. SHUMAN4Vistherefore obliged to pay fifty thousand guineas to theexalted authority -- as the price of silence and dis-regard.

*The IRMA has adopted a secret resolution offering five,million dollars in three permeate (2-2-1) to Musa al-'MIAMI for undertaking his development project. It isawaiting the special approval of Trygr• 1.111. There areothers Monesert that not all of this sum will be fromthe agency, but frms other Anglo-American-Jewish quarterswhich will secretly participate in paying the sum.

'The weekly review al- eclat, which appears in Jerusalem,OBis edited by Burhan a A I, son of Shaykh Ahead RaghibAbu-41.40nd al-DAJAM . It is the mouthpiece or the

=pin' who today regard Anwar al-NRATIB as their..2% especially since the development of the known

differences (personal or family) between him and Musaal- l ALAMI.-1Iadaf is waging a campaign againstal- tALAIII an37Ii-HiRanding statements on the funds of theArab Bweaus and the development projects.

t4r ylIsa alkiALILArirday imprisoned in Damascus. It issaid that_ke will remain in his aunt's house until furthernotioeINInfhas been proved to the area Chingrale that heis connected withrangen oh has been made in

frai me

Syr for honorin i IMAM, GHURI, RafiqAMIMI,and 'Ab lah a AIX. Indeed, heis one of thers of the arrangement I His colleague, lAbd-al-Karim

II arrived, but he was expelled from Syria andretnqa to Jordan. The Whereabouts of the third, ;Inhumed(Shay, is still unknown.

oThere are indications that Navel arralBATAWI is ofthe leaders who participated in the arrangement; 7: shallme.

wah4,,„,'The total number of the foreign staff. of the UNRMAls128. Mixtrwthree percent of them are British and holdthe principal- positions. More than half of these areeither present or former members of the well-knownIntelligence Service. One is in oharge of the Agency'sadministration in the Dare District; the second in incharge of the administration in Qameshli; the third inAleppo; the fourth purchases wheat for the Agency....

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wvoiR01- u -sza3-2094

. 5 . 20 August 1950

SECRET: .

S C, • • • • • • .

• RL13•20941- 20 August 1950

pr. 'There are many sons of the Thames who fill Beirut andDamascus with their oommercial activities. They haveopened business officio in the two capitals. They arevery humble and for this reason always meet with theyoung men and newspaperman and others in aid's, salons,oinemas, etc. All the undertakings and contracts of theUN Agenoy are given for considerations appreciated by thegentlemen. The approval Or advice of the Ministry ofColonies is always asked for in a secret manner on mattersof policy and orientation' *

Fte34. Notes (bx parakraplt

(c). *she SHAT, Israeli Foreign Mifltter, has been reported inMLB0.409.

\(d). We f1I4 no trace on Jamal TUQAN. For al-KBALIL, see

RLB-2 HLB-2065, etc. Muhammad /Ali al IRI has beanreported RLB02065. Wadih DAMS, Jordan tor, has beenreported La RIZ IE-1953 and 2065. Sulam= Bey , Jordansenator, been reported in RLB/s-1953, 2046, aMid 2065.

, .(h). •Abd-al-FattahlkARWISH has been reported in RLBts-1.74\1953,

and 2065. Tawfit\Bey KATTAN has been reported in RLB- 953.We find no trios ola s tIsa al-BANDAK. \\ s..

(1). Fr Anwar al-KRATIB, ia:4RLB-2065. ARIF may be the Arif PkmhaAJIP of RSD-.440. We f no trace on Hanna ATALLAH, but Dr.,

ATALLAH appears as k'spy* on the Bethlehem polio. listrep ed in RIB-1907. \

(3). Sa l id Pasha al-MUFTI, Jordaniprisis Minister, has beenreport d in RLB 1 s-1953 and 2064.. We cannot identify al-SHARIQZor al- I. \

• (k). For Rmil qnum, ses-RLB 1 s-2043, 209, eta.

Cu). We cannot 1dentify SHUMAN (fnu). Thecilted authority* hereseems to he King tABDALLAH. \

(o). For Musa al- iALAXI, see RPJ-241 and RLB t s-140\and 2065.

S rONTai

• SECV4,6-B094.- 7 - 20 August 1950

(p). We find no trace an Sorban al-DAJABI or him father.

(q). 'Is& al-KBALILI has been reported in RLB l e-2063 2064, etc.By 'honoring. GRURI evidently means "assassinating." Dr.ARU-GRARIMAR has been reported in RLB l e-1959, 2010, etc.Per Rafiq Bey al •TAMINI, see RLD-2063 and R's-54, 459,and 494. Col. lAbdallah al-TALL has been reported inM's-2010, 2011, etc. Mlibanmad ShayWh IBRAHIM has beenreported in Ria l s-1522 and 1792.

Cr).

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Par Nasal al-ARBATAWI, see RiB-2065.